


Reversefell

by Musecookie



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angry fish ladies, Bad Puns, Blood and Gore, Confusion, Depression, Fire, Magic, Multi, Puppets, Schizophrenia, Unknown stalker, bridges, goat children, hidden humor, i think, i'll add tags as i go, lots of death, puns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 02:56:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13226676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musecookie/pseuds/Musecookie
Summary: Many years ago, the humans were losing the great war.  They sealed themselves underneath a large mountain where no monster could ever hope to follow them.  400 years later, a human stumbles into the sunshine outside of the mountain Ebott.  With increasingly little memories of their past, the human, Frisk, must survive in a world hell-bent on killing them in the worst ways possible, all the while trying to answer impossible questions.What were they running from?Where are they running to?What does the future hold in store for them?





	1. The Mountain

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Their Wings](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5969617) by [Castel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Castel/pseuds/Castel). 



> This is my first story, so it might not be top-notch!  
> I started this story a while ago, so the first few updates after that might come in very quickly, but after that, they'll be slower. I hope you enjoy!

_ Long ago, humans and monsters ruled the world together, peacefully.  Then, one day, something changed within the realm of monsters, so it is said.  The monsters craved the power of the human souls, and set out to destroy humanity.  The resulting war lasted for many years.  In the end, the humans, losing ground and their hope, sealed themselves underground, never to be seen again above the ground by the monsters. _

400 YEARS LATER, 20XX

Darkness.  Nothing but darkness.  You stumble onward in the pitch black, stumbling over invisible roots as you continue in the direction that you hope will lead you out of this wretched place.  Then in a sudden disappearance of physics and reality, the ground beneath your feet disappears as you know it, and you’re falling  _ up _ .

You whirl in the air as you continue to fall to what you’re sure is the upward direction.  There is no wind, no sound, but a whisper, faint as a beating heart, that sounds in your ear.

“ _ Save them.” _

⬖⬖⬖

You wake up on a bed of flowers that are as yellow as what the sun is rumored to be. They are buttercups, you realize.  You pat the ground lightly, confirming their soft texture.  The flowers let off a sweet scent, reminding you of memories of when you would play near the flower patch at the end of the boundaries of the underworld.  Looking  a little farther forward, you see a cave, dark as midnight, set into the side of a mountain larger than anything you’ve ever seen before. The mountain is tall, and you look up to gauge its height.  As you look up, up, up to find the top of the mountain, wondering when it would hit the ceiling of the false sky, you realize the mountain just fades into the clouds.  

The  _ clouds. _ You’ve never seen them before, but you’ve read of them in books.  They are said to look like pieces of white candy floss that float across the real sky, outside of the underground.  You look up in wonder, knowing this could only mean one thing.  You are looking at the real sky, the real sun, and the god forsaken mountain the humans have been stuck under for the past 400 years.  You can do nothing but sit, dumbfounded, for a few minutes, before coming to your senses.  You look around.  There must be somewhere you could go to warn the monsters.  Warn them… of what?  You can’t help but feel at a loss as you try to remember the whole reason you escaped the underground.  As you ponder your reason, you hear a voice behind you.

“Uh… hello?  I heard someone moving over here…”  A small voice is calling out from behind you.  It sounds scared.  You look around, turning your body so you can see the person who belongs to the weak voice.  Or rather, as you turn to see the owner, the flower.  You gasp in surprise when you see the little buttercup that has a face as he peers up at you worriedly.  Of course he’s a monster.  What were you expecting, another human above the underground?  The little monster lets out a terrified squeak when it sees you, and hurriedly says, “Pardon me… but I can’t seem to identify what type of monster you are… would you mind telling me?”  You smile at this innocent little monster, and tell him the truth.

“I’m a human.”

⬖⬖⬖

The little monster’s expression of innocent worry quickly becomes one of horror as realization dawns on them.  Their adorable little eyes begin to fill up with tears as they begin to plead with you.

“Please… please don’t kill me…”  He whimpers pitifully and sniffles as he looks at you with fear in his soft little eyes.  You crouch down, and speak to him in your softest voice.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to hurt you.  I came to help.”  You keep consoling him until he stops crying and peers up at you from underneath his petals.  You give him a big smile and pat his little- er… head?

“You… you won’t hurt me? The other humans who came here before… they…”  He trails off, then starts on a new subject.  “Golly, you must be so confused!”  He seems worried again, but less scared, and looks at you with adorable eyes. “I’m Flowey, Flowey the flower! And you are…?” You give him a comforting smile.

“I’m Frisk.”  The little flower smiles back at you, then continues to speak.

“Welcome to the Overworld, where the monsters live…” He trails off, then looks at you with urgency. “Frisk… in the overworld, it’s kill or be killed. The monsters believe all of the humans are dead, and have long since turned on each other. They kill each other to get power from LV.”  You look at Flowey with growing horror.  He continues, “LV stands for LOVE, which means  **L** evel  **O** f  **V** iolenc **e** . The more LOVE you have, the stronger you are, the easier it is to kill.  They- the monsters- enjoy hurting each other… If any of them sees you, they will torture and kill you, for no real reason at all.”  Flowey looks at you with a pleading glance and tells you, “Please, come with me, where we can hide for the rest of time, away from the monsters…”  He trails off as you shake your head. 

“I can’t.  I need to warn the monsters- of something- which I’m sure I’ll remember once I get to their king.”  He looks at you pleadingly.

“You will die! Please, you are the nicest human to ever come here!”  You look at Flowey in surprise.

“There were other humans?” You ask.  You hadn’t known anyone had ever escaped the underground before you.  Flowey looks down and slowly nods, seeming to regret it.

“There were six others… they were all ruthless and evil, horrible creatures who wished nothing more than to see the world burn.”  You feel heartbroken at the sad look on his face, but you know there is nothing you can do to change the past.  However, you know you came here so you could change the future. 

“Flowey, is there anything else I need to know before I go to meet the monsters?”  You don’t look at him as you ask, but rather, you look at the path that is right behind him.  It is made of gravel, and runs under an ancient looking arch before turning a corner into a wooded area that you can’t see farther into. You turn back to him as he sighs and finally responds.

“Yes.  When you encounter a monster, you will enter a FIGHT.” As Flowey says the word fight, the world around you turns pitch black, and Flowey seems to be drained of all color.  He continues. “Your SOUL is the culmination of your being.”  With a sharp stinging sensation, a small red blob separates from your chest where your heart is.  In fact, what you once thought to be a blob, is actually in the shape of a heart.  “If your soul is hurt, it will affect you physically.  Monsters will throw  ATTACKS at you to harm your soul.  I’m going to attack you.  Dodge my attack.”  A small white pellet appears in front of your little heart, which Flowey had called your “soul.”  It slowly moves toward your soul.  Remembering what Flowey said about dodging, you try various ways to move it.  In the end, focusing on making it move to the side makes it move, and you dodge.  Just to make sure you have the hang of it, Flowey throws one more pellet at you, and you find that moving your body along with your soul makes it easier to move.  The battle ends.

“Whew, you got the hang of that quickly!” Flowey says excitedly.  “You’re ready to move on into the Ruins.”  His excitement quickly turns to seriousness. “Frisk… in the ruins, there is a monster who’s gone insane.”  He stops there, as you look at him.  He fidgets nervously. “W- what?”

“Flowey, do you want to come with me?”  You reach around behind you and grab a pack that you had noticed lying near you earlier.  You hold it out for him to see. “You can sit in this little backpack and travel with me.”  You watch him consider before he finally agrees.  You carefully dig up the earth around him, being careful of his roots, and slowly lift and place him into the pack.  When he looks comfortably situated, You hoist the backpack up onto your back and smile back at him.  

“Let’s get going, then.”

⬖⬖⬖

“Left… forward…No! Don’t go any further!” Both of you have been painstakingly making your way through the Ruins, a quiet wooded area full of old columns and remnants of ancient buildings.  The thought that these buildings have stood through many centuries without fading away fills you with determination.  Flowey, on the other hand, has been guiding you along the deadly puzzles set throughout the Ruins by the caretaker, who has been explained by Flowey to be Toriel.  Toriel, Flowey had explained to you, had suddenly appeared in the Ruins one day, and cut off any connection to the rest of monsterkind by creating a barrier of sorts. 

“If you see Toriel,” Flowey had explained, “Your best hope is to turn tail and run. If she doesn’t see you, you’re safe.  If she does see you…” He had trailed off, the horror of what Toriel would do to you apparently  too appalling for him to explain.

After a while of walking without coming across any puzzles, you see a pile of leaves up ahead.  It’s not odd, seeing as the season in the Ruins seems to be fall, but on top of the pile is what looks like a piece of the sun.  You walk closer to the little source of light.  Upon closer inspection, you find the light is what seems to be a small yellow star.  

“I’ve never seen that before…” Flowey says.  It seems as if Flowey knows the Ruins by heart.  You decide to step closer to the light, and for some reason, you decide to touch it.  “Frisk… what are you- Hey!”  Flowey tries to stop you for fear if the star is dangerous or another trap, but it’s too late.  

As you touch the star, a feeling of relief washes over you, seeming to wash away all your pains from all the puzzles you nearly died in.  Determination to keep moving rushes through you, along with the realization of what the little star is. You have no idea of how you know, but the knowledge is there.

“It’s a save star…” You say to Flowey. “It saves my progress… for whatever reason.”  Flowey looks at you with a confused expression that seems to ask how you know that.  You shrug and continue onwards.

⬖⬖⬖

After a few more puzzles and walking, you finally come across a small house.  It’s so neat and tidy, you can’t help but adore it.  Flowey doesn’t seem to share your feelings, as he nervously shifts around in your backpack.

“Frisk… we should get away from this house.”  He looks around nervously, as if someone was watching.  You look at him to ask why, but before you can-

“My child? What are you doing here?”  A feminine voice sounds from off to your right, and you slowly turn to see who was standing there.

A goat monster, at least 7 feet tall, stands in the middle of the path you were headed toward.  She wears a black dress that sharply contrasts with her snow white fur, and her horns curve upward, then in toward her head before ending in iron tipped points.. The most outstanding thing about her are her eyes.  Her eyes are surrounded by a ring of dark red fur, while the whites of her eyes are yellow. Her irises are a rich red color.  She gasps when she sees you.

“Oh my… are you a human child?!” She looks concerned, but you back away, ready to run should she attack.  “My child, you look so scared! Come with me to my home, you must be exhausted after going through the Ruins by yourself!”  Before you can do anything, the monster strides over to you and crouches in front of you.  “I am Toriel,  caretaker of the Ruins.  I’m very sorry I wasn’t able to guide you through the more treacherous part of the Ruins, but can I make that up to you over a slice of pie?”  Unsure if Toriel really is all that dangerous, you nod, much to Flowey’s displeasure.

“What are you doing?!” He hisses in your ear as Toriel leads you to the small house you were just looking at. “That is  _ Toriel _ !  She’ll kill you the moment you’re asleep!”  You shake your head.

“I don’t think she will. She doesn’t seem like that type of person.  Besides, everyone deserves a chance to be kind.” You respond to his fear with a smile. “We’ll be fine.”  As you reach the front of the house, you notice a save star.  Toriel looks at it hesitantly for a moment, then walks inside, undisturbed by it.  You stop to save, then head inside as well.

⬖⬖⬖

Inside, you find a cozy living area, a kitchen, and three bedrooms.  Toriel tells you to rest while she makes pie. And you decide that’s probably a good idea as you head toward the first bedroom.  

After sleeping for a while, much to Flowey’s annoyance, you wake up to find a cinnamon-butterscotch pie waiting on the floor next to the bed you were resting in.  You eat it, and feel as if any pain you received from all the puzzles of the Ruins was washed away.  You go outside the bedroom to find Toriel reading a book.  You gather enough courage to go up to her and finally talk to Toriel.

“Goat mom… where is the way out of the Ruins? I must continue onward.”  Toriel looks at you with surprise.

“My child! You should not ask such things.  Why don’t you stay here with me and learn how to make pie?”  You keep insisting on the whereabouts of the exit of the Ruins, and finally Toriel stands up, a pained look on her face.  “My child… if you wish to leave… I won’t let you.”  The air in the room suddenly heats up as her hands seem to crackle and pop.  You see why as she lifts her hands, which are engulfed in white flames. Well, that escalated quickly.  You turn tail and run.

⬖⬖⬖

You wake up screaming once more in the bedroom, the still-warm pie resting on the ground next to your bed.  Flowey looks at you in surprise from his little perch atop a bookcase.  Of course.  He doesn’t remember your deaths, the painful burning of the fireballs shot at you by Toriel.  He doesn’t remember your tears as you cried pitifully, burning alive.  Lucky him.  

Toriel bursts into your room, concerned.  Of course, she was a loving mother until you showed any signs of wanting to escape the Ruins.

“My child! Are you okay?” She asks you this worriedly, genuinely concerned about your well-being.  You can’t take it anymore.  You rush into Toriel’s arms, sobbing and apologizing.

“I-I’m sorry! I can’t s-stay! I’m sorry for r-running!” You hiccup into her arms as she holds you and consoles you.

“Do not be afraid, my child… you are all right…” She holds you, and tells you not to be afraid of your ‘nightmare’.  Finally, you calm down enough for her to leave you to get some more rest.  When she leaves, you look at Flowey, and walk over to him.  You quietly put him on your back.

“We’re leaving, Flowey.”  He looks at you with confusion as you explain. “I’ve died several times already.  We need to leave when she least expects it.”  You can tell he’s still confused, but there’s no time to explain.

You quietly sneak out of your bedroom and to the stairs that lead to the basement.  You can hear Toriel reading to herself in the other room.  As you slowly descend the stairs, you’re almost to the basement when one of the steps creaks.  You freeze, hoping Toriel wouldn’t have heard it. No such luck.  You hear Toriel call out for you, and you quickly descend the rest of the stairs and sprint down the long hallway at the end of them. You hear Toriel yell.

“My child, please come back!” You hear her come down the stairs in pursuit of you.  You don’t look back, but ready yourself for the barrage of attacks that’s sure to come.  As you feel the heat of the first shot warm your back, you throw yourself to the side, and the shot misses you. However, Toriel is gaining on you.

You keep running.  Flowey is wrapped around your neck, squeezing tightly and screaming in fear, but you ignore him.   _ You must find the door. _  Soon, you see it.  You’ve evaded several attacks now, but in your excitement, you temporarily forget the growing heat at your back.  Before you can realize, the shot hits your leg, and you scream, but continue running.  Toriel is tired of running after you by now.  You can hear her panting and crying, pleading with you to stay.

“Please… we could be a family… and have pie…” She sounds pitiful, too tired to fight anymore.  You stop at the door, and look back at Toriel.  She’s a mess, tears running through her fur.  She sees you looking at her, and raises her arm one more time in a desperate attempt to stop you.  You jump behind the door and slam it shut before the final fireball finds its mark. You lean on the door in guilt.   _ Sorry, goat mom. _

⬖⬖⬖

You collapse on the ground with to Flowey, shocked.  “I… made it… I finally made it out…”  You look at Flowey, who’s confused, and you explain what you’ve realized during all the times Toriel had killed you.  “Whenever I die, I don’t actually die.”  Flowey’s confusion grows. “I mean, everything resets to when I last saved.  No one remembers anything, and it’s like I never died, but I remember what happened before.”  Understanding finally dawns on Flowey’s face.  

“So… when you woke up screaming…” You nod.

“I had just died.”  Flowey looks horrified, but you refute any attempts on his part to make you feel better. “It’s okay. I’ll just try not to get killed as often.”  You look around for something to change the subject, and notice the air is actually really cold.  You shiver.  Next to you is a save star, and you save, feeling the familiar determination rush through you.  You stand and step away from the door, and gasp.  The door had been inset into a wall, so you couldn’t very well see the landscape before, but now you can see the pine woods, and snow everywhere.  You start to step forward, but fall and cry out in pain.

“My leg…” You hadn’t noticed the pain because of adrenaline, but now the pain was back, and it hurt like hell.  You look back to see the skin melting away, leaving large angry welts.  The remaining skin on your calf was red and tender.  Oh, how it burned.  “The save star should have healed it!”   You remember how you had been healed when you saved the first time you entered Toriel’s house.  You should be healed now, but you weren’t.  And… there was nothing you could do about it.  Luckily, this forest was somehow in winter season, even though in the Ruins it had surely been fall.  But maybe weather had a different schedule in the upperground than the underground.  Since it was so cold out, the burning was mildly sated.  You stand up once more as Flowey protests.

“You can’t stand up, you’ll only get more hurt!”  He seems worried, but you explain why you have to carry on.

“No one is out here to help me.  Anyway, I won’t get better by just sitting around.”  With that, you begin to limp forward onto a path through the pine trees.

⬖⬖⬖

After walking for awhile, you hear something move behind you, but when you turn to look, there is nothing there.  You shrug it off, and continue.  You finally see a bridge in the distance, with what looks like poorly made bars running through it.  It seems as if they were made almost too stupidly, for they had been set as if someone could walk straight through them without having to overcome any obstacles.  Almost like a trap to lure you in.  As you near the bridge, you hear footsteps crunching in the snow behind you.  You pretend not to hear them until you reach the bridge, then you stop to let them catch up.  The owner of the footsteps stops before you, and speaks.

“Human.  Don’t you know how to greet a new pal?”  His voice is deep and raspy, as if from years of yelling. “Turn around, and shake my hand.”  You slowly turn.

You see a skeletal monster holding his hand out to you.  He’s tall, really tall.  At least 6 feet tall.  He has a roundish face, and a permanent smile plays at his… does he have lips?  You can’t tell.  His teeth though… they’re sharp.  They could break skin.  They’re not like a dog’s, though, where some are longer than others. They’re all relatively the same size.  A scar runs through his right eye, although it’s not really a scar, but a crack in his skull.  He’s wearing a black coat, the hood fringed with a light brown fur of some sort.  Underneath, he wears a red sweater.  He looks at you expectantly, then at his hand.  Of course.

You reach out to shake his hand, glad that there’s someone nice out here.  You grab his hand, then all time stops.  You feel a hundred volts of electricity shoot through you, shocking you, electrifying you.  It rushes through you, cumbusting your insides.  Then it’s over.  Flowey wasn’t spared, as he falls from your pack, dead and smoking.  Your body falls to the ground with a hollow thump, and the last thing you hear before darkness sweeps you away is the skeleton’s voice.

“In this world, it’s kill or be killed, human.”

⬖⬖⬖

You jump to reality, back at the save point, before you met the skeleton.  Flowey is looking at you, concerned and very much alive.

“Are you alright, Frisk?”  You nod solemnly.

“I just died.”  Flowey’s worried look quickly becomes one of confusion, then dawning horror.  You rush to console him.  “It’s okay.  It won’t happen again, I promise.”  But you can’t help but feel that promise might be broken a few times before it’s true.

⬖⬖⬖

This time, the moment you see the bridge, you walk a little faster. When you reach it this time however, you don’t stop.  You keep walking.  The footsteps behind you stop, then somehow appear right behind you, but you don’t have time to consider this.  A sharp and sudden pain turns your vision red, and you scream in pain.  You vaguely hear Flowey screaming too.  You look down, and scream again.  Bones, red with your blood, protrude from your chest area.  They pierce you from behind.  The footsteps come up close to you, and you hear the skeleton’s voice very close to your ear.

“You shoulda run, sweetheart.”

⬖⬖⬖

You’re determined to survive this time. You don’t say anything to Flowey, you just stand up off the star and begin walking.  This time, however, when you reach the bridge, you break into an  all-out sprint.  At first, you hear the footsteps behind you speed up, but they soon slow down and stop.  You look back to see the skeleton standing there grinning at you.  You don’t understand why he’s not chasing you.  He doesn’t look tired, and you’re mightily slowed down by your injured leg.  Then you run into what might’ve been a wall.  You look up at what you ran into.  And up, and up.  It’s another skeleton.  This one must be at least 8 feet tall.  His head is more oval in shape, and he wears spiky black armor.  Around his neck is a red scarf, tattered from years of use.  His teeth, like the other skeleton’s, are sharp, and he has scars running through both eyes.  He looks down at you with clear distaste.

“Human, you should always look where you’re running.  The people you’re running from are not always behind you, you know.”  He has a professional, bossy tone.  It’s hardened from years of living in hell.

You’re impaled through the chest.

⬖⬖⬖

So many times.  Over and over, you wake up again, right at the door that leads from the Ruins.  Death after death.  You can feel yourself slowly losing the will to continue, to keep watching Flowey scream and die.  Only the determined voice in your head remains, repeating;  _ no, you must continue! _  This time, when you pull your body off the star once more, you devise a plan.  Now, as you walk toward the bridge, you stay inside the line of the trees on either side of the path, the dark colors of the clothes you’re wearing helping you blend with the tall pines.  You continue until just before the bridge, then wait.  

Sure enough, the shorter skeleton appears from farther down the path you just came from.  He glances around him nervously.  You press yourself into the tree you’re hiding behind, and don’t move a bit, hardly even daring to breathe.  The second skeleton appears on the bridge, clearly agitated.

“Sans! Why are you all the way out here!?  You should be on guard duty!”  The tall skeleton berates the smaller one, whose name is obviously Sans.  Sans looks worried, and stares at the tall skeleton with fear in his eyes.  You had never noticed that fear any other time you were running from the skeletons.

“Aw, bro, you never know when a  _ human _ could be passing through.”  Sans looks around nonchalantly as he says this.  He knows you’re nearby, he must. Otherwise, why would he have said that?  But he doesn’t say anything else, just looks at the taller skeleton. He had called him his brother. Of course they’re brothers.  They’re both skeleton- type monsters, after all.  The skeleton yells at him a bit more, then they head past the bridge and away from you.  You slowly follow them, making sure you still blend into the trees.  Of course, you’ll need to pass over the bridge.  You glance around th make sure the coast is clear, then step out of the treeline. You quickly run over to the bridge, steering clear of the bars of the poorly made barrier.  You know from past deaths that they shoot out spikes if you get too close to them. As soon as you pass the bridge, you duck into the treeline once more. Walking down through the trees for a while, you see the path fork out.  The skelebros are nowhere in sight, but you see a save star.  You silently pump your fist into the air with joy, knowing you won’t have to endure running through the bridge again.  

When you finish saving, you glance up at the sun.  Looking at it stings.  

“Don’t look straight into the sun, Frisk!”  Flowey hisses.  You jump in surprise.  He’s been mostly quiet since the bridge.  He continues talking. “You’ll go blind if you stare at it for too long!”  You nod in understanding, then merge into the treeline again.

⬖⬖⬖

You decide to head down the right road at the fork.  You don’t walk for long before you come across the skelebros.  They seem to be standing in front of an empty space.  As you watch, they walk in a  carefully measured path, dusting the ground behind them so their tracks aren’t left in the snow for others to see. Ah, the space must be trapped.  You hasten to follow them, knowing there must be somewhere important behind the paths.

⬖⬖⬖

It takes so long to pass all the puzzles.  You die so many times, that you’re sure by the time you pass them all, you know them all by heart. At the end of the deadly puzzles is a save star.  You save and let out a sigh of relief, glad of the convenience of these stars.  You walk down the path once more.  At either side of the path is a large drop, so it’s no use to hide.  You just walk down the middle of the snowy path now.  Soon you come across a very long bridge.  At the end of it… are the skelebros. (Surprise!) Sans and the taller one are looking at you.

“Human! I see you have found your way through my puzzles!”  The taller one speaks.  You suspect that he is the more dominant brother of the pair.  “You must be exceptionally smart to do so.  No- humans have no intelligence.” You can’t help but feel offended, but you keep listening to the skeleton. “You must have bribed some monster to tell you how to get through them.  Tell me, who helped you?  I shall torture them after I kill you.” You open you mouth to tell him no one helped you, but he cut you off.  “Oh, nevermind.  I, the Great and Terrible Papyrus, shall kill you now, and find them later.”  You lift an eyebrow, but it’s lost to the snow that whirls between you and the brothers.  It seems the taller skeleton, who had called himself Papyrus, has one more thing to say.  “Go ahead, walk over this bridge and come to me.  Then I shall kill you.” You timidly step onto the the bridge.  It doesn’t break or electrocute you. You sigh in relief.

⬖⬖⬖

You near the end of the bridge, but suddenly the skeleton called Papyrus holds up a gloved hand and you stop. He holds out what looks like a remote and hits a button.  Out of seemingly nowhere, things drop down around you.  Flamethrowers roar to life and blast fire into your path at intervals.  An enormous axe chops through the air, threatening to cut anything that gets in it’s way clean in half. A canon stands on a pedestal, ready to fire.  Another thing is in the way as well, but you can’t see it.  You look at the obstacles before you, and you feel something rush through you. It tells you not to give up.  You’re filled with determination.

You run, timing your steps with the fire, and jump through when the inferno dies down. With the fire behind you, you have the axe to pass, which is easy enough.  As you jump past it, you see the last obstacle.  It’s a dog, tied up and hanging from a rope.  It’s the size of a wolf and snarling at you, but you know you have to get it down from the rope.  You run past the canon and to the white dog.  Immediately you begin to untie it to let it down.  The skeletons watch with interest.  The dog, confused, tries to bite you, but it’s attacks die down.  As you get to the last knot and almost free the dog, Flowey becomes agitated.

“Frisk! The canon’s getting ready to fire-” The cannon fires at you as you free the dog. It misses, by some miracle. Instead, it hits the bridge, smashing it to pieces. You and Flowey scream as the bridge falls.  With your last ounce of strength, you grab the dog’s fur as it falls in the air beside you, and heave it onto land, where it is safe from the chaos of the falling bridge.  Then you fall.  

As you keep falling, you think about what has brought you to this moment.  Maybe you’ll do something different the next time you come to the bridge.  Somehow, it seems there won’t have to be a next time.  You descend, but suddenly your fall is yanked to a stop.  You feel a burning, terrible pain in your right ankle as you stop.  It’s been shattered.  You look up to see what has stopped you from falling to your death.  A rope from the bridge had wound its way around your ankle during the fall, making a noose of sorts around it.  When the rope reached its limit, it had tightened around your ankle and stopped you from falling further as well.  Now, you hang from the rope, in immense pain, while Flowey clings to your neck, looking around in confusion.  Your pack is long since gone. 

“F-Flowey…” You softly say your friend’s name.  Flowey looks at you with worry. “Are… are you okay?”  You ask him of his health, and he nods slowly, showing you he’s alright.  “...good.”  Now that you’re sure Flowey is alright, you begin to reach up and grab the rope that saved your life.  You know you need to climb up the rope and make it to land. As you start to shimmy upwards, you feel a lot of pain in your hip.  Your leg was dislocated when you were yanked to a stop in your descent.  There’s nothing you can do about it now, however.  You continue to slowly make progress up the rope, Flowey slumped on your back in exhaustion. Finally, after what seems like an eternity of climbing, you near the top of the ravine you fell down.  You pull yourself up onto the snowy land and collapse in relief, your hands, hip, and legs burning in pain.  

⬖⬖⬖

You eventually stand up, knowing you must continue on.  You must find a save star and save, the now familiar feeling of determination rushing through you.  Then, you look up to behold your next challenge.

In front of you is a sign that indicates the town behind it.  It looks as if it might have once said the town’s name, but it had been vandalized and now said, “Welcome to HELL.”   You gulp in fear, hoping the sign didn’t really mean what it said.  You walk into the town.  All around you are monsters.  So many monsters.  They all eye each other distrustfully, opting to either walk in close packs or alone.  Soon, they see you and watch you with murderous eyes, and you hug yourself, trying to make yourself smaller and less conspicuous.  Flowey pats your back comfortingly, reminding you that you’re not alone.

Eventually, you see a store with a save star in front of it.  You quickly walk over to it and save, then head into the store.

The inside of the shop has a dark atmosphere.  On the walls are jars full of gruesome items.  A few of them are labeled as things such as ‘Human’s eyes’ or ‘poison candy.’  You shiver.  Behind you, an annoyed voice calls out to you.

“Are you going to keep standing there and gawk like a damn idiot or are you going to buy something?” You turn to see a humanoid bunny looking figure behind a counter.  Her fur is purple in color, and she wears black makeup.  You ask her if food is sold here, and she seems irked by your question.  

“What does this place look like, a restaurant?  If you want food, go over to that bastard Grillby’s!”  You quickly leave the shop, deciding you don’t want to anger the woman any further.  You hurry down through the town until you come to a place that looks like a bar.  You read it’s name, Grillby’s.  Delicious smells waft out of the building, and your stomach rumbles as you head inside.  

You step around tables full of monsters.  In a few of them are monsters that you had encountered between the puzzles set by the skeleton brothers.  They had all spared you either because they eventually got bored of you or they were inspired by your kindness to do nice things to others as well.  You walk up to the bar and sit down.  The waiter comes to you.  He seems to be a man completely made out of fire.  A nametag on his shirt says, ‘Grillby.’

“One hamburger, please,” you tell him after you review the menu.  A while later he comes back to you with a hamburger.  When you thank him for the food, he seems taken aback, as if surprised that you thanked him. You begin to eat your hamburger, and suddenly the entire restaurant goes quiet.  You look to see what the commotion is, and you nearly fall out of your seat in horror.  Standing in the doorway is Papyrus and Sans.  The entire restaurant stares at them in awe as they make their way toward the bar and you.  You quickly turn around and hunch over, hoping they don’t notice you.  Suddenly, you hold your breath as they seem to stop right behind you.

“Hey, pipsqueak.”  It’s Sans who speaks to you.  Somehow, he doesn’t recognize you.  You realize it must be because you’re so dirty from falling off the bridge and rolling in the snow that you look different.  “Don’t you know that you’re sitting in  _ my _ spot?”  You can hear him practically snarl at you.  Without turning around, you hop off your bench with a small apology and hurry over to the other side of the bar.  Deciding it would be an incredibly stupid move to stay at the bar, you take a few more bites out of the hamburger, feeling almost as if eating it dulled the pain a little more.  Then you pay and sprint outside.

⬖⬖⬖

You and Flowey had found a little clearing in the woods, not too far in to get lost, but far enough to not be seen from the town.  You comfort Flowey as he shivers from the cold.  You are freezing as well, but you must stay strong for Flowey.

“Shhh… It’s okay.”  You try to tell him everything is alright, but he still seems on the verge of tears. “Flowey, how about I tell you a story?”  He looks at you with pain filled eyes.  You begin.

_ A long time ago, a small child ran away from home. _

_ They wanted to see what the world was like outside of the underground. _

_ They ran and ran, until they found themselves outside. _

_ It was a beautiful day outside. _

_ Birds were singing, _

_ Flowers were blooming, _

_ On days like those,  _

_ Kids like them, _

_ Were meant to be playing in the sun. _

_ The child played in vast fields of flowers,  _

_ And swam in great blue lakes. _

_ Then, when they grew weary from play, _

_ They ran once more. _

_ They ran and ran, until they found themselves in a land of fairy tales. _

_ A beautiful lady came to them and said, _

_ “You cannot go home, little one.  Stay here where you can play for all eternity.” _

_ And the child stayed. _

Flowey, after hearing the story, is very silent.  After a while, he speaks.

“Frisk… where did you hear that story?” You try to pull it from memory, but you can’t remember who told it to you.  You know it was an old story,  but you can’t recall anything else.  You ask Flowey why he wants to know. “Because…”  He never gets to finish.

⬖⬖⬖

“The little bird knows how to tell stories!”  You hear a familiar voice croon behind you.  “Unfortunately for you, sweetheart, the upperground ain’t all daisies and fairies.”  You turn to see Sans and Papyrus standing at the edge of the clearing.  Sans gives you a shit-eating grin.  “You obviously don’t know basic survival skills, honey. It was too easy to follow your footsteps into the forest after you left Grillby’s.”  You start to back away, but a wall of bones pops up behind you, and Papyrus grins. 

“Human, you are exactly as the rumors state your kind to be.  Naive, idiotic, clumsy.  Too bad your kind sealed themselves underground.  It would have been fun to destroy them.”  You whimper in fear, and Flowey wraps himself around you protectively.  Sans’ grin grows wider, and he lifts a hand.

“G’night sweetheart.”  A barrage of bones forms and flies at you.   You have no time to dodge, and scream as they hit you.  You slump to the ground, broken, as Flowey screams your name.  Darkness sweeps you into it’s comforting embrace.

⬖⬖⬖

_ “Quickly, get it to a save star!” _

_ “Don’t let it die, you idiot!” _

_ “It’s gonna die!” _

_ “There! It’s been to the save star.” _

⬖⬖⬖

You wake up on an uncomfortable object.  You see it’s a dog bed.  Your body feels as if it’s on fire, and you whimper in pain.  You hear something, and you lift your head and gasp.

It’s Flowey, nailed to a wall through his petals.  His eyes are half open in a daze of pain, but they widen when they see you.

“F-Frisk!”  He coughs, his voice hoarse from screaming. “You- I was beginning to think you had died for real!”  You give him a weak smile. His lips start to quiver. “They… they’re so evil Frisk… they tortured me…” Flowey’s eyes begin to well up. “Don’t… don’t let them hurt me anymore… it hurts!”  He begins to cry.  You try to move, to crawl over to him, but your arms are too weak to support your body.  You collapse and black out once more, one hand outreached toward Flowey’s broken form on the wall.


	2. Snowdin Hospitality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk gets honorary treatment from the Snowdin residents and skelebros, A fiery snowstorm happens, and Sans has a few questions for Frisk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is only coming in really early because it was already written. After this, updates might be slow. Anyways, enjoy!

You wake up once more, in the same room, on the same dog bed. Now, you look around you to see where exactly you are.  You are in what looks to be a small room.  Around the top of the walls are windows, and they seem to lead outside.  You must be in a shed or something. To your right are bars set far apart, like the ones on the first bridge you encountered.  You can already tell that they’re trapped as well.  On the floor is a dog bowl filled with dried dog food.  It’s inedible.   In the corner of the room is a save star.  It’s warm yellow light makes the room you’re in seem less scary and cold.  Even though the sight of it fills you with relief, you know you can’t save while in here.  Getting out of this room with Flowey is the ideal option, but if you die, you won’t wake up in this room if you don’t save.  You look to where Flowey was pinned to one of the walls before, and feel terror shoot through you when you don’t see him there.

“Looking for your little friend, sweetheart?”  A voice you know well implores you from behind.  “You humans aren’t too smart, are you?  Heh,  _ friends. _  A weakness is all they are.” You turn to see Sans on the other side of the bars.  In his hand is Flowey’s limp form.

“Flowey!” You call out to your friend and lurch toward the monsters.  You stumble and fall, reaching out to comfort your friend. “Flowey, are you okay!?” His little form stirs, and he sees you.

“Frisk… I…”  Sans growls and shakes him, successfully making Flowey quiet.

“Shut up! All you need to know, human, is that if you disobey me or my brother… your little  _ friend _ will pay the consequences.”  He holds up Flowey’s tattered body, then throws him at you through the bars.  You lunge in his direction and catch him as carefully as you can. 

Sans looks at the two of you with disgust, then storms out of the shed without another word.  You hug Flowey close, calming him.

⬖⬖⬖

After what seems to be a while the world outside seems to darken.  It’s as if the sky was dimming.  You feel fear.

“Flowey, what’s happening outside!?”  You look at Flowey imploringly, and he looks back at you in surprise.

“The sun’s setting, Frisk.  That’s normal.”  You feel confused, but then remember you’re in the upperground now.  How silly.  The sun sets when it’s at the end of a day.  In the underground… you… couldn't quite seem to remember…

⬖⬖⬖

It isn’t long before Sans visits you.  He stands on the other side of the bars, then touches something on the wall and walks through them to the corner you had backed yourself and Flowey into.  He leans down toward your face, and you smell his rancid breath.  It smells of… mustard?

“Hey, sweetheart.”  His grin is wide as he plucks Flowey from your grasp and grabs your wrist as well.  He drags you over to the save star on the other side of the room. “You should know what happens when you piss my brother and I off.”  You try to reject this, telling Sans you’ve done nothing wrong, but he twists your arm until you cry out in pain. “Quiet! Did I say you could talk?”  He throws your body on top of the save star, and you have no choice but to save.  Your only way out of this prison now is if you save when you’re outside of it.  When you fall off the star in a heap, Sans grins and tells you to stand up.   You tell him your legs are too injured for you to stand right now.

“Well, if you don’t want to follow orders...” He trails off and grabs one of Flowey’s petals.  You gasp, and realizing what he’s about to do, reach out to stop him.  Too late.  He pulls the petal away from Flowey’s head, and it rips free.  Flowey screams in immense pain.  You scream in fear and grief.

He rips each of Flowey’s petals free from his head, leaving the little monster a broken, mangled mess.  As he lifts Flowey up, you realize he’s not done with the torture.  He grasps Flowey’s head and his roots.

“No! Sans, don’t do this!”  You try to yell to him, to make him stop.  He hesitates for a moment, but then his grin becomes wider and more sadistic.  He begins to twist Flowey’s body.  Flowey screams and screams.  Sans continues to twist, until Flowey’s body is twisted into two pieces.  He drops your dead friend to the ground and steps over his corpse, closer to you.  You do nothing but stare at your dead friend’s body.

Sans grabs your chin and yanks it upward, forcing you to look at him.  He pulls you up, pulling your body up with you, then he throws you at a wall, and you slump down to the ground, still shocked.

“Are you gonna stand now,  _ rat? _ ”  He steps toward you, and you just sit there.  He laughs.  “Guess I’ll have to punish you, now that your  _ friend _ is dead.”  You look up, your eyes widening in fear.

“No… no!  Please!  _ Please! _ ”  You lift your hands to protect yourself, but he grabs your arms with a powerful force.  They break as you scream in pain.  He laughs, and a bone materializes in front of you. 

“Let’s see… how long will you last if you’re stabbed in the stomach? Don’t worry,  _ sweetheart _ , this is for scientific purposes.  Thanks for the  _ donation _ .”  The bone stabs through your abdomen, and you scream.  The edges of your vision go black, and all you can feel is pain, pain,  _ pain. _  Everything fades from sight, and the last thing you see before  the darkness grabs your consciousness is Sans’ grinning face.

You wake up a few seconds later, on top of the save star, Sans next to you, still holding Flowey.  Everything’s the same as before you died, except now, Sans is laughing.

“Whew!  Sweetheart, you should have  _ seen  _ that delicious face you just made!”  You look at him in confusion.  “Maybe- maybe I should do all that  _ again _ just to see that face of yours as you die.”  You realize what he’s saying, and terror spreads across your face.  In all the time you’ve been above the underground, you’ve never met anyone who could remember your deaths.  Sans laughs at the look at your face.  “Oh, good.  I was starting to think you couldn’t remember the last time you died.”

“You- you remember each time I die?”  Sans says nothing, just gives you a shit- eating grin as he leaves the shed, throwing Flowey into your arms.

⬖⬖⬖

Your days continue onward, seeming so much longer than they are.  Sans makes his visits daily, where he tortures and kills both you and Flowey.  Each time, you try to reason with him, to tell him to stop, but he just kills you again and again.

You feel like this horrible treatment must be repayment for some awful thing you had done in your past life, maybe even in the underground.  It alarmed you that you couldn’t remember much of your life underground anymore.  The memories you once had held dearest to you slipped away from you once you recalled them from the depths of your mind.  The faces of your family and friends blurred in your mind, melting together to make a horrific amalgamation in your head.  It seemed whatever caused you to lose memories of your past made nightmares out of the ones you still had.  It only left behind one thing in it’s destruction of your memories; the burning need to find the Monster King, and warn him.

⬖⬖⬖

You wake up to the sound of Sans walking into the shed.  He has a grin, and you _know_ that he’s going to torture you and Flowey again.  You feel your heart break.  For all of your determination, you just can’t see Flowey tortured anymore.  He’s so innocent, the only thing in this corrupted world unaffected by the hatred that seems to cloud the air, making it hard to breathe.  You can’t bear to hear his screams anymore, to see the light that burned in his eyes go out.

“What’s up, sweetheart?  Why don’t you sing a little song for me, with that pretty little voice of yours?”  That’s not playing fair.  Before he left you the last time he visited, he had held you in a choke hold, crushing your throat.  You could no more talk than you could walk through those bars and straight to the king without dying at all.  “What, not gonna sing for me?  Well then… I’ll be nice and give you a second chance.  Tell me a pretty story.  I know you know how.”  You gesture at your throat.  He grins wider.  “Disobeying me?  Well, you know what that means~”  He walks through the bars to you and grabs Flowey roughly.  You yelp pitifully.  He grins and holds Flowey’s head and roots, just like the first time he killed Flowey.  This time, he  _ pulls. _  He pulls Flowey apart, your little friend screaming and begging for mercy.  Then, Flowey rips in half, like paper.  

You break.  His little form dying so many times, over and over.  You can’t keep seeing him get hurt anymore.  You lunge out, and your body falls on top of the save star.  You save.

Tears stream down your face, the first since you apologized to Toriel for running away.   _ I’m sorry Flowey.  I just couldn’t stand to see you get hurt anymore.  I hope you understand.  I’m sorry, my friend. _

Sans looks at you in shock.  Then he grins.  “You just permanently killed your own friend.  I didn’t know you had it in ya, sweetheart.  Tell you what, I’m gonna be nice today.  I won’t hurt you.”  He leaves the shed, and you’re left to drown in a sea of your own misery and self hate.   _ Had you been selfish? _

⬖⬖⬖

Days pass by, but they all seem bleak and grey.  You feel a gnawing pain grow in your abdomen.  Ah, yes.  Hunger.  You lean on the wall and smile, a small thing devoid of hope or happiness.  You wonder if skeletons need to eat.  Probably not, where would all the food go?  Or maybe they eat  _ souls. _  You wish they’d just eat yours.  Maybe then you could just  _ die. _  All this saving and returning to life when you die is so pointless.

⬖⬖⬖

Apparently, the skeletons were aware that humans had to eat.  Sans walks in with a plate of lasagna at some point. You don’t care when.  He walks over to you and shoves the plate into your hands, but not until he kicks you for good measure first.

You stare at the plate.  It’s cold.

“Eat it, you piece of shit!”  Sans leans down and forcibly shoves a handful of cold lasagna down your throat, forcing you to swallow.  You choke and drool runs from the corners of your mouth.  You don’t bother to wipe it off.  You just stare at Sans with the same blank expression, as you have since Flowey died.  His anger seems to overflow, and he grabs the lasagna and slaps you with it.  Then he grabs the plate and hurls it at the wall, shattering it to many tiny pieces.

“You- you stupid  _ idiot _ !  He gives  _ you _ the food, when he never cared for his own  _ brother! _ ” He kicks you.  You realize you had emptied your bladder, the smell of urine almost intoxicating.  He growls, clearly pissed at you.

“Are you even  _ listening!? _  No, of course not.  You’re stupid.  Why should he care more about a stupid  _ prisoner _ than his own  _ brother!? _ ”  You realize what he’s saying, and start to see something… Or maybe it was the lasagna he hit you with that pulled you out of your stupor.  You don’t get to do anything, however, as Sans drags you to the save star and throws you on it.  When you’re done saving, you feel his magic take a hold on you.  You’re thrown through the air, hitting wall after wall.  The pain is terrible.  Your bones break over and over, and your vision dims, but something new fills you.  It’s a feeling you haven’t really felt since you woke up in this shed of death.  Determination.

You wake up on the star once more and see him right next to you, fuming, already preparing his next magical attack.  You interrupt his rage, not caring anymore if you die. You’ll just wake up right here again, anyway.

“Sans, does killing me really help you let out your feelings?”  He looks at you, surprised to hear you talking after the depressed state you had been in ever since your friend died.  You continue.  “Every time you come in here-”

“Shut up! You don’t know anything!”  He tries furiously to get you to stop talking to him, but you feel determination to reach out to Sans.  You edge closer to him.

“Sans, does Papyrus- is Papyrus mean to you?”  You don’t move too fast, in case he decides to leave or lash out.

“He- he doesn’t care!”  Tears start to form at the corners of Sans’ eye sockets.  “He never did  _ anything _ for me!  And now you- you get all his attention- a stupid prisoner matters more to him!”  He starts to talk to you, and you see his walls break down.  Tears fall from his eye sockets, and you know this is your chance.

You reach out to Sans, and touch him lightly on the shoulder.  He flinches, as if he expects you to hit him.

“Sans… does killing me over and over help you feel better when Papyrus is mean to you?”  He looks at you, and you see years of pain and hurt in his eyes.

“A little… I just don’t get it!  How can you not go crazy after being killed so many times!?  It pisses me off!”  You let out a small laugh, devoid of mirth.  Oh, you've gone crazy alright.

“I know I have to keep surviving, because I’ll eventually get out of here, and I have to continue on my journey, if only for Flowey’s sake.”  He looks at you blankly.  “Sans, any time Papyrus is ever mean to you…” You can see his eyes harden, his walls begin to reconstruct themselves.  “... come and talk to me, instead of killing me.  Sometimes a friend is better than a punch-bag.”  He grunts at your words and stands up to leave.  As he walks out the door, you know he’ll consider your offer.  For now, you fall asleep, exhausted from the day’s events.

⬖⬖⬖

You had never realized how cold the shed was, maybe because you were always so occupied with other things.  Now, you huddle up near the save star, wishing for Flowey’s warmth.  Flowey… you hope wherever he is now, he forgives you.  You just… you couldn’t watch him scream and die anymore.  Was that selfish of you?  Probably.

⬖⬖⬖

Sans doesn’t hurt you any more.  It seems he took what you told him to heart.  Now, he sits on the outside of the bars or near you in the shed, and tells you how Papyrus treats him.  Soon, he starts talking to you of the world outside and the monster king. 

“Our king is a narcissistic tyrant.  He holds gladiator tournaments for enjoyment, forcing friends,  _ families _ , to kill each other,”  Sans tells you one day. 

⬖⬖⬖

You stir, feeling tired and cold.  The door opens, and you sit up taller, sure that it’s Sans coming to talk to you.  You enjoy his company, and his stories make you forget about the pain in your legs, the gnawing hunger in your abdomen, and the cold.  Your legs still haven’t healed since leaving Toriel and falling off the bridge.  As you wait to see Sans’ familiar figure, you see you were wrong as someone else walks through the door. 

Papyrus walks into the room, leaning because of his unnatural height.  You haven’t seen him since he knocked you out and brought you to the shed.  In his hands is a plate of spaghetti, and your stomach rumbles.  He walks toward you, then immediately stops. You whimper in disapproval, reaching for the spaghetti, but Papyrus is too far away.

“Human!  What is that awful smell!?”  If Papyrus had a nose, he would have been wrinkling it in disgust.  You remember you had released your bladder since you had last seen Sans.  Ammonia thickly coated the air.  You wonder if you could suffocate in the smell of your own urine.  Papyrus seems displeased, and you rush to answer him.

“Uh, I- humans have to get rid of wastes…”  You blush, embarrassed that you have to explain how you managed to pee in the shed.

“Ah, yes.  Humans have to do their…  _ business _ …  well, you smell terrible.”  He hands you the plate of spaghetti while leaning away from your smell.  You can’t help but feel relieved that you won’t have to explain the human process of getting rid of wastes.  Papyrus watches as you practically inhale the spaghetti, then walks over to you and grabs your arm when you’re done.   “Human, if you’re to be my prisoner, you’re to at least be presentable.”  He starts to pull you toward the bars, and you’re too weak to stop him.

He drags you outside for the first time in days.  How long have you been in that shed?  Two weeks?  Three?  The sudden brightness of the world outside is too strong for your eyes, and you squeeze them shut.  You are dragged through snow.  When you finally open your eyes, you see that Papyrus is dragging you into the woods.  

You feel fear.  Is he taking you into the woods to kill you?  Where no one can hear you cry for mercy?  You start to struggle and pull away from Papyrus, but your legs are too weak after having been sat on for who knows how long.  You fall over in your attempt to escape, and Papyrus sighs, annoyed.

“There is no chance of you escaping, human.  Not from I, the Great and Terrible Papyrus.”  You struggle to stand as he reaches for you, but before you can pull yourself into a standing position, Papyrus grabs you up into his long arms, carrying you bridal style to your destination.

⬖⬖⬖

He dumps you unceremoniously to the ground when you reach a stream bordered by trees.  You sit up.  Papyrus looks at you expectantly, and you feel confused.

“...What?”  You question him, looking around.  Was there a puzzle or something he expected you to solve?  Papyrus looks at you as if he cannot believe your stupidity, then gestures to the water.

“Get yourself cleaned up, human.”  You look at the water, then back at Papyrus.  You look at the water again.  Papyrus’s patience wears thin.  “Well, human?” 

“I can’t just bathe here!”

“Why not?”

“Because- because it’s cold!  And you’re watching me!  Haven’t you ever heard of privacy?”  He looks at you in confusion.

“The water is just water.  It’s not cold.  My useless brother and I bathe here all the time.”  You stare at him, your jaw hanging slightly open.  You walk over to the water, and dip your hand in.  Bloody hells, it’s  _ freezing _ !  You quickly retract your hand from the water as if it had been electrocuted.  You wonder if skeletons are cold blooded, or if they just can’t feel the change in temperature as easily as humans could.  Probably the latter.

“I can’t bathe here.  End of conversation.”  Papyrus looks at you with annoyance.

“You don’t call the shots human!  I am the one in control here.  Or did you forget?”  He gives you a nasty grin, and walks toward you.  You whimper in fear and begin to back away, but you’re too slow.  He quickly picks you up, tucking you under his arm like a sack of potatoes.  He walks over to the water.

“Wait- no- my clothes- it’s too cold-!”  Your excuses come tumbling out of your mouth, but Papyrus pays no heed to your ramblings.  He dumps you into the water.

The water is like a shock wave of electrifying cold.  Your limbs are paralyzed, and you’re pulled under the surface of the water.  Suddenly, you have control of your arms and legs again, and you flail them uselessly.  You realize you must not know how to swim.  Your head breaks the surface of the water, and you gasp for air, choking on the water that leaks into your mouth.  Your clothes weigh heavily on you, making it harder for you to stay afloat.  You bob up and down in the water, trying desperately not to drown.  You hear the water rushing past your ears.  It roars, and it sounds as if it’s screaming for your death.  Your vision begins to blacken, and the cold seeps into your bones.  The water level rises and drops for a moment, and you hear a sort of disruption in the roaring of the water.  You don’t notice.  You’re too busy trying to survive.

An arm reaches out to you from behind and wraps around your waist and pulls you to something hard, but at the same time, comforting.  You’re pulled out of the water, and onto snow.  Your breathing gurgles, and something pushes down onto your chest, forcing you to breathe.  You cough and throw up water, clearing up your airways.  The arms gather you up, and pull you into a sort of cradle.  You nod off into the oblivion of sleep…

⬖⬖⬖

When you wake up, you find yourself tucked under something soft, and feel as though you’re sleeping on a cushion.  You sit up groggily, and look around you.

You’re in a dark room.  It’s main color scheme seems to be black and a dark shade of red.  You realize you’re in a bed.  It's so soft… you settle back down, and fall asleep the moment your head hits the pillow.

⬖⬖⬖

You wake up to something heavy resting over your shoulder, and a slight pressure at your back.  You can hear breathing, and feel the exhaled breath blow softly against your exposed neck.  You turn to see Papyrus asleep, and spooning you.  You try to wriggle free of his grasp, but the arm draped over you squeezes you closer to him.  Welp, nothing you can do about that.  You make use of your imprisonment and take the time to look around and absorb details.  You look down to see that you’re not in your old clothes, but rather a large red shirt.  Underneath the shirt are black leggings. You blush at the thought of someone undressing you.  You decide to focus on something else. The room is minimalistic, with only the bed, a table, and a desk.  It’s perfectly clean, down to even the rug looking as if someone had vacuumed it completely.  

You feel a sharp exhale of breath at your neck, and know that Papyrus has woken up.  You pretend to be asleep.  For some reason, you want to see what he will do.  You feel him sit up and look down at you for a moment, then mutter something to himself and get up.  You turn subtly, and open your eyes the slightest bit to see him.  He wears a black and red t-shirt and boxers.  You close your eyes while he changes.  He leaves the room after a while.

⬖⬖⬖

You don’t have to wait too long before Sans walks into the room to check up on you.  When he sees you sitting up, he rushes to your side.

“Sweetheart! Are you okay?”  You nod and smile at Sans, glad that he cared about your well-being.  You feel proud that you had successfully made friends with him.  Maybe you could befriend his brother, and close the gap in their relationship.  You feel determination at this new mission.

“Sans… how long have I been knocked out for?”  He tells you that you had been out of it for at least a day.  You sigh, and can’t help but feel it was precious time wasted.

⬖⬖⬖

When Papyrus comes back into the room and sees you well, he commands you to stand up.  You speak to him.

“Papyrus… I know it was you who saved me from drowning.”  He starts to object, but you cut him off.  “So, for that… I wanted to thank you.”  Papyrus looks surprised at this.  You’re reminded of when you thanked Grillby, and how he had reacted similarly to this.  Did monsters really not say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ aboveground?  How odd.

Papyrus leads you out of the room, and you find yourself on a landing overlooking a room beneath.  There’s one other room on the landing.  You suppose it’s Sans’ room.  Down the stairs is a simple living area;  A green couch faced toward a television set.  Another room led under the landing; it was a kitchen.  Papyrus leads you out the door and into the cold.  You head to the left of the house, and you see a small shed.   _ Is that where you’ve been trapped the entire time? _  He leads you inside, and you see that it is.  The smell of urine is gone, but everything else is nearly the same.  He pushes you inside the bars.  Without his tall form supporting you, you fall to your knees.  As you struggle to stand, you hear Papyrus leave without a sound.

⬖⬖⬖

Sans comes to visit you later in the day, to tell you stories and help you stretch your legs.  Sitting on the festering wounds all the time can’t be good for your health.  The burn you acquired from Toriel had mostly healed, leaving disfigured skin in some places.  Those would leave scars.  Your ankle that had been broken in the fall had healed completely.  Somebody had set it at some point, so it would heal in the correct position.  You were still unsteady on your feet, but you were becoming more stable.  You could already tell; if you wanted to survive in the upperground, you’d need to be able to run.

⬖⬖⬖

It’s late.  You don’t know why you woke up, but you feel as if something terrible is brewing.  You remember the last time you saved; when Sans visited you.  You hear something shifting outside, then the door into the shed opens.  A figure you don’t immediately recognize walks into the shed.  Then you realize who it is.

“There you are, human.”  The bunny shopkeeper looks at you with pure hatred in her eyes.  She grins maliciously.  “I just couldn’t let those two skeletons have all the fun in torturing you, now could I?  Although, you look pretty healthy.  My bets are on you being the skeletons’ whore.”  You whimper and shy away from her.  She’s holding a container of something.  “Now… you just  _ existing _ ticks me off, so I think I’ll just sit back and watch you  _ burn _ , sound good?”  She lifts up the container and begins throwing the contents all over the shed.  As the smell of the liquid reaches you, you realize what it is as your stomach turns.   _ Gasoline. _  Oh, god.  She’s gonna burn you alive.  You see light outside of the door, and see other faces outside.  It seemed the whole town is in on killing you.

The bunny woman grabs a torch someone from outside passes to her, and she looks at you with hatred.  “We’ll enjoy not having to know you and your ugly face aren’t around anymore.”  The fear gets to you, and you start to giggle.  You can’t seem to stop laughing.  The bunny woman looks confused.  You tell her what has you laughing so hard.

“Oh my god- did you just  _ burn _ me?”  She drops the torch.  It doesn’t take long for your hysterical laughter turn into terrified screams.

⬖⬖⬖

You wake up with a start and pull your hand away from the star sharply, as if it’s an overly hot potato.  Sans looks at you with wide eyes as he sees your fear.

“Sweetheart?  What happened?  I was in bed, then…”  You shake your head.

“Sans, they- the townspeople- they’re coming to kill me- tonight!”  His eyes widen, then harden.

“If they even  _ try _ to-”  You tug on his sleeve and shake your head no.

“Sans… they’ll hurt you!”  He laughs.

“Sweetheart, they would hardly be able to get a touch on us.  We’re the strongest monsters in Snowdin.”

“Snowdin?”

“Heh, right… this town is called Snowdin.  Welcome to our lovely town.  Please enjoy your stay.”  You snort at him.  He laughs with you, but then his face hardens, and he speaks to you in a low growl.  “I’ll tell Paps about this.  Don’t you worry, sweetheart.  They’re not gonna  _ touch  _ you.”

⬖⬖⬖

You can’t fall asleep that night.  You keep hearing screams and shouts and the sounds of fighting.  Fear creeps inside your mind, and you hope the Sans and Papyrus make it out okay.  To be honest, you hope  _ no one _ gets hurt, but you can’t imagine that whatever’s going on out there wasn’t hurting someone.  You just hope it isn’t Sans or Papyrus.  Finally, you drift off into a fitful sleep.  You don’t sleep for very long. 

You wake up to the smell of smoke. And sit up to see bright flames whirling around you.  They lick at your feet, and you whimper in fear.  You think about calling for help, but most of the people in Snowdin want to kill you.  You stand up instead, and look at the bars, the only thing keeping you trapped in this shed.  You walk toward the bars, hoping for the love of god that they don’t kill you now.  You walk through them without any traps being set off.   _ Wait, all this time you could have walked out the bars and escaped!? _  You walk out into the cold night.  Snow whips violently through the air, and you see a red glow everywhere you look.  Screams and shouts mix in the air.  You don’t know where you are, but you walk toward the largest concentration of red, hoping at least one of the skelebros will be there to help you.  You don’t have the time, however, to find them, as someone walks up behind you.

“Hey, human.”  You look behind you to see a monster that looks like a deer.  On its enormous antlers, however,  are the gory remains of those who had been impaled on them.  “Do you like my little bonfire?”  He jerks his head to the shed.  So he’s the one who tried to kill you. You feel determination.  He only tried to hurt you because he’s in pain.  You know that’s the reason he tried to kill you, it has to be.  No one is completely evil.  You step toward the monster, and the world around you goes black.  A fight!

***Goretrot attacks!**

⬖⬖⬖

You step away, feeling exhausted after the fight.  You had dodged Goretrot’s attacks while moving closer to him, and finally removed the gore from his antlers.  When the weight on his head had been lifted, he had noticeably relaxed, and trotted away after thanking you.  You feel proud that you had managed to spread kindness into someone else’s life.  You also feel confused, though.  The entire time you were in the fight, you felt as though a voice, both familiar and strange, was narrating your actions. You walk toward the red glow in the distance once more.

⬖⬖⬖

You had slowly made progress through the blizzard, having occasionally stopped to fight and spare monsters.  When you make it to the center of the town, you gasp in surprised horror.  

All around are demolished buildings.  Some are lit on fire, while others just seem as if they had been blasted apart.  You see that Grillby’s is totally demolished, walls falling down into piles of ashes.  All around you is destruction.  In the center of the town square, however, is what truly catches your full attention.

At least fifty monsters stand in a ring, holding torches and shouting.  Some of them are throwing stones at the two figures in the center of the ring.  It’s Sans, standing over an unconscious Papyrus, doing his best to ward off the incoming attacks.  He’s holding out well, but you can see he’s getting tired.  He’s sweating, and attacks are getting closer and closer to hitting him.  Around him are piles of bodies.  The carnage is sickening to look at, but you feel the urge to protect Sans.  He is the closest thing you have to a friend above the ground.  Determination rushes through you, and you do the most idiotic thing you’ve ever done.

“HEY!”  All the attacks on Sans stop as fifty-one pairs of eyes look at you.  Sans’ eyes widen in fear, but you keep the determined set to your jaw steady.  “Hey!  Look at me!  I’m a human!”  You wave your hands above your head and do a ridiculous little dance.  Anything to pull the attention away from Sans.  You’d seen Flowey die too many times.  You weren’t going to see another friend in pain  _ ever _ again.  The bunny monster steps forward from the ranks of the crowd.

“There you are, human!  Did ya finally decide to stop being a coward and come out from behind the boneheads’ backs?”  You look at the feminine figure calmly.

“I was never hiding behind them.  In fact, they have been the bane of my existence.”  Sans and the townsfolk look at you in surprise, but you continue. “But- I found friends in them.  They are kind people.  And… I know you guys can be, too.”  The shopkeeper starts to object, but you hold up a hand to silence her.  “Behind your walls, underneath your cruelty, there is kindness and trust.  You guys just need to be friends.”  The bunny woman interrupts you viciously.

“You are as stupid as they come.  Do you  _ honestly _ think that everything can be solved with smiles and rainbows!?  You’re so stupid, I ought to kill you right here, in front of everyone.  Mercy doesn’t solve anything.”  You immediately know she’s pulling you into a fight.  Your soul separates from you chest with a slight sting.  The woman throws attacks at you, but you refuse to fight back. Instead, you talk to her.

“Ma’am, please-”  You dodge an attack. “I know you’re hurting over something-”  You roll, avoiding a particularly nasty-looking attack. “Just please-  try to understand-”  She keeps throwing attacks at you, and you keep sparing her.  You don’t care how long it takes, but you know eventually she will get tired, and she’ll understand.  She and the rest of the monsters will understand that everyone deserves to be spared, to have a second chance.  And finally she gets tired.

The woman slumps to the ground in exhaustion, eyeing you distrustfully.  “Go on then, take your victory,” she says.  You walk over to her and reach down… to grab her hand and help her to her feet.  There’s an audible gasp from the crowd of monsters that watches you.  Even Sans seems mildly surprised.  He stands a ways away from the circle of monsters now, Papyrus slung over his shoulder.  You return your attention to the group of monsters around you.

“See?  Mercy is so much easier than beating someone up.  Maybe the reason you all are always so grumpy is because you’re just tired of fighting.”  You turn your back on the woman and walk toward Sans.  You push through the wall of monsters.  It seems everyone is too stunned by your actions to even move.  As you leave, you hear someone mutter something.

“ _ Save us, human. _ ”  You look back in surprise, feeling like you know that voice, that warning, but no one acts strange.  You shrug it off and walk over to Sans and help him drag Papyrus home.  You’re sure the residents of Snowdin won’t bother you anymore.

⬖⬖⬖

When Papyrus finally wakes up, you sigh in relief.  

You had dragged him back to the house a few hours ago with the help of Sans.  Once you had laid Papyrus down on the couch, you had run outside to save at the star that had once stood in the now demolished shed.  It had seemed that the star had remained untouched when the wooden structure had burned down around it.  Seeing the small star stand strong in the middle of destruction had filled you with determination.

Coming back to now, Papyrus looks around him in confusion.  “I was fighting…” You tell him he had been knocked out while fighting, Sans jumping in to tell him how.  The statement takes a few moments to register, then you see something that fills you with surprise.  Papyrus flushes a deep red in embarrassment.  Can… can skeletons even blush?

“What!?”  Papyrus’s voice is almost a nasal shriek.  “I- I got knocked out on the battlefield!?  That’s impossible!  The Great and Terrible Papyrus- what’s so funny?”  He looks at you.  You’re giggling, one hand over your mouth to stifle your laughs.  

“I- you look kinda funny with that blush…”  This statement only makes his face a deeper red, and your shoulders shake.  You fall over shrieking in laughter.  Maybe it was that the hysteria of the whole situation got to you, or you genuinely find Papyrus’ ability to blush hilarious, but you can’t stop laughing.  Sans looks at his brother’s face, and begins to laugh, too.  The act makes his face blush a little, and you laugh harder.  Suddenly you and Sans are pounding your fists on the ground, cackling like hyenas.  Tears roll down your face.  Papyrus, however, is not in the slightest amused.

“Sans!  Human!  Stop that this instant!  This is a serious situation!  If I had  really been knocked out on the battlefield, my reputation is dust!”  You laugh harder.  Papyrus rolls his… whatever the orbs glowing in his eye sockets are.  “I’ll be up in my room, where I don’t have to watch you two idiots.”  He storms upstairs and slams his door shut.

⬖⬖⬖

After you and Sans had calmed down enough to stop laughing, you had sort of sat there for a while, not knowing what to do.  Eventually Sans stands up.  You look up at him in surprise.

“Welp, I’m goin’ ta Grillby’s.  You wanna come?  It’s either stay here or get chained to the couch.”  You stand up to join him.

⬖⬖⬖

“...Welp, guess Grillby’s isn’t an option.”  Sans frowns at his once favorite restaurant.  The building had been demolished.  You had seen it in a state of disrepair last night, but you had forgotten with all the excitement.  

“Sorry, Sans.”  He looks at you with a grin, somehow managing to shrug off all the destruction as if it happened all the time.  Which, considering what the upperground was like, you assumed probably did. 

“Nah, don’t worry about it, sweetheart.  Anyway, there’s another place that I like, but it’s a ways away from Snowdin.  Lucky for you, though, I know a shortcut.”  He has a grin that seems as if it were laughing.  He holds out his hand as an invitation.  You smile and grab Sans’ hand. “Alright, close your eyes and hold your breath, sweetheart.”  Feeling confusion, you do as he asks, smiling as you do so.  Is this a sort of prank?  

Suddenly the air around you shrieks.  All around you, an invisible barrier closes in on you, squeezes you.  Behind your eyelids, you can just barely see the the light of the sun that makes its way through your eyelids dim.  Then, as soon as this torturous feeling started, it ended, leaving you reeling and gripping San’s hand tightly.  When you open your eyes, you feel surprised.

You’re in a completely different setting than Snowdin.

You’re standing in front of a tall building.  It looks ominous, standing tall in front of you.  Somehow, it’s night here, although you had been sure it was early morning in Snowdin.  The building had the words, “MTT RESORT” on it, but underneath the words was a sign explaining the different hours you could rent someone to torture a victim.  You shudder.  Sans looks at you, and gestures at you to follow him as he leads you inside.

You’re led to a table in a restaurant inside the resort.  Sans sits across from you.  The restaurant has a red theme.  You can still hear the distant cries of tortured monsters in other parts of the “resort.”  

“So…”  You turn your head to Sans, who just spoke.  “You, uh, really like being nice to everyone, huh?”  He seems nervous, but you nod your head with vigor.  He visibly relaxes.  “You know, I really hated you at the beginning.” You look at Sans with surprise, but he continues to talk.  “One day, everything kept going back, kept resetting.  I couldn’t find out why, and no one else seemed to know, or care.  I was the only one who kept realizing that everything was resetting.  Then when you came, I realized you were the reason.”  You feel sorry for Sans.  He couldn’t talk to anyone about the time resetting.  At least you had had Flowey.  Flowey… you feel a sharp spear of guilt and sadness shoot through your chest at the thought of your dead friend.   _ If only you could join him. _  You shake away the wisps of regret and continue to listen to Sans.  “At first, I tried to kill you, but everything would reset again, and you would just come back, like before.  Eventually, I let you pass, just because I couldn’t stand watching everything get reset again.  Then, when we captured you…”  You shiver at the thought of the torture you went through in that shed.  “You went through it all, without breaking and going psycho.”  Well, almost.  Flowey’s death still haunts you.  “I thought it wasn’t possible.  I killed you so many times, yet… you actually offered to  _ help _ me.”  Sans looks at you with amazement.  You shrug.

“Well, If you kept killing me, time would have passed a  _ lot _ slower.”  You try to sound as if offering to help him was just an act of selfishness, but you know Sans knows you had actually wanted to just talk.  

"So… I’ve got a question for ya, Frisk.” You look at Sans again.  He stares at you intently.  Whoa, this question is probably serious.  Sans is not one to make eye contact often.  “What are you going to do if you ever get out of Snowdin?”  You swallow.  That was a question you asked yourself a lot. You didn’t like thinking about the future.

“I guess… I’d have to find your king.”  Sans looks at you as his odd eyes widen in surprise.

“The- the  _ king!? _ He’d have you skinned!”  Sans looks unsettled.

“Skinned or not, there is a reason I must get to the king.  I just…”

“Just what?”

“Just can’t remember it yet.”

“You mean you want to go see  _ Asgore _ and you don’t remember why!?”  

You feel foolish at Sans’s words, but the feeling of urgency to get to the king is stronger.  You insist.  Sans finally sighs and shrugs telling you it’s not like you’d escape from Papyrus anyway.

“Speaking of Papyrus, we should be getting back to Snowdin.  He probably thinks you ran off somewhere.”

Sans offers you his hand as you leave the resort.

You take it.


	3. Into the Cave We Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk and co. have a run-in with a crazy fish lady, find a new friend, and Sans leads them to an old friend of his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!  
> So there are a few new characters introduced in this chapter, but they're not really like the canon Underfell characters, but that's okay, because this is Reversefell! I'm sorry in advance for the chapter being so short, but what can a writer do?  
> Enjoy!

“SANS!  Where have you been!? And why is that sniveling creature with you?” Papyrus shrieks his anger at you and Sans when you return to the house.

“Sorry, boss.  I wanted to go eat, and thought the human here would find it nice to eat as well,” Sans replies to his brother’s admonishment.  The skelebros begin to yell at each other, but you feel restless.  Since you’re not being held in the shed any more, you know you have to move on and find the king.  You start to talk to the skelebros.

“Look-”  You’re cut off by the front door of the skeleton brothers’ house slamming open.

“NGAHHH!  PAPYRUS, YOU BASTARD!” A scream is heard, and you whip around your head to see who just entered the house.  

A tall monster fills up the doorway.  It’s feminine, but she wears large armor that makes her body seem really large.  She wears no helmet, so you can see her face.  It’s blue, with fins protruding from the neck area and ears.  She has red eyes and startling red eyeshadow.  It looks like warpaint.  Her hair is a shock of red protruding from the top of her scalp and cascading down her back like water.

“You’ve been hiding a human from me!?”  The fish lady screams at Papyrus, who is on guard.  Both the skelebros are on edge, glaring at the woman, bones materializing around them.

“It seems our location has been compromised.  Who betrayed us, Undyne?”  Papyrus looks at the fish lady, who you assume is Undyne, coldly.  

“YOU LIVE IN THE BIGGEST HOUSE IN THE UNDERGROUND, YOU IMBECILE!  NGAHHH!”  The angry fish lady punches the wall, resulting in a splintering shriek from the wood.  Papyrus looks shocked, then straightens, and you feel the air getting palpably colder.  Sans tugs on your sweater and leans down into your ear.

“Come on,” he mutters. “You don’t wanna be here to see this, babe.”  He pulls on your shirt even harder, and you let him pull you away from the two tall monsters and out a back door from the house.  

As you run out into the cold air, you hear the sound of crashing and screaming comes from within the skelebros’ house.  Sans just pulls you along beside him, then turns around and wraps his arms around you in an iron hold.

“Hold on,” he whispers through his sharp teeth.  The air around you darkens and closes in around you as you close your eyes.

The wind screams into your ears, and you feel as if you’re being crushed.  Your stomach whirls.  Your lungs scream for air.  

You feel the ground beneath your feet stabilize and you fall to your knees, retching and gagging. When you’ve emptied the contents of your stomach, you look around you.

You’re still in Snowdin, you’re sure, because snow surrounds you and the air still bites at your skin with frosty teeth, but there is something different about the aura of the place.  Sans is standing next to you, frowning at the sky.

“Shit,” he says.  You ask him what’s wrong, and he points at a hazy, dark mass in the distance.  “That,” he says, “Is the entrance to Waterfall.  Undyne’s territory.  We can’t go back the other way, because Papyrus and Undyne are that way, and we can’t go into the woods,” he explains, gesturing to the pine trees surrounding you.  You ask him why you can’t just run into the woods.  Sans shrugs.  “It’s a mouthful to explain, but the woods are full of rabid lesser monsters that can rip you apart in a second.  And it’s really hard to find your way out of the woods.”  You shudder at the thought of being lost and surrounded by terrifying beasts.  Sans starts walking toward the dark thing in the distance.  “Welp, nothing we can do but continue onward and hope Undyne doesn’t think we’re stupid enough to go into Waterfall.”

⬖⬖⬖

You walk for a few minutes before reaching a huge stone mass.  Set into the stone is the entrance to a cave.  It looks dark inside.  You shudder, but what terrifies you more is the huge expanse of nothingness that spreads to the horizon behind the cave.  

“Sans, what the hell is that!?”  Just looking at the black emptiness fills you with pure terror, for some reson unknown to you.

“Huh?  Oh, that.”  Sans glances at the void.  “That’s, uh, what’s left of the upperground.”   _ What?! _  “After the humans disappeared, the, uh, monsterkind went to war with each other.”  Sans fidgets.  “The war sort of destroyed over half the world, and most of the other half was rendered unlivable.”  You stare at him in shock.  He must be joking.  Sans looks at your horrified expression with a dead-serious face, then turns away.  You see his shoulders shaking.  

Your eyes widen in surprise.  Is Sans crying?  You didn’t take him for an emotional type.  You reach out to comfort him. 

“Sans…”  Sans turns around.  Tears are leaking from his eyes, but it’s not from crying.  He howls with laughter, falling to his knees and hugging his arms around his non-existing stomach.

“You actually believed that!?  Oh god- I can’t believe you’re that gullible- that’s just illusion magic!”  Sans is rolling in the snow.  “You’re-”

Sans’ laughter is cut off by a distant roar of fury from far behind you.  His face immediately hardens and he picks himself off the ground.  He grabs your arm and runs into the cave, dragging you along behind him.

⬖⬖⬖

The air quickly grows warmer and more humid as you and Sans run deeper into the cave.  Your only guide is the dim light that is given off by a few neon- looking crystals that are scattered throughout the cave.  You hear the sound of falling water, and you and Sans splash through a few random puddles as you continue on your hurried way.

⬖⬖⬖

You and Sans are hiding behind a sentry station, much like the ones you saw back in Snowdin.  Both of you are panting.  You lift an eyebrow at Sans and gesture toward the station.  He glances at the wood structure and laughs quietly.

“Heh, having a lot of jobs really helps me get around, ya know?”  You don’t know, but you nod your head anyway. You stand up, having gained enough composure to stand again, but Sans needs more time to catch his breath.  This gives you time to explore.  

Next to the station is a blue flower.  It’s huge, as tall as you.  It’s petals let off a soft glow, almost like how the crystals placed throughout the cave give off light.  It was… beautiful.  

“That’s an Echo Flower. It repeats the last thing it heard, over and over again.”  You jump and whirl around.  It’s Sans, having regained his breath.  He had walked up behind you without you noticing.  He nods at the Echo Flower.  “Go ahead, touch it.”  You turn around again and look at the flower.  You reach your hand out to it, and your fingers brush its smooth head.  You hear something.

“Go ahead, touch it.”  It’s Sans’ voice, coming from the flower.  You gaze at it in wonder.  You can’t remember the underground at all anymore, but you’re sure no such flowers existed beneath the mountain.  The surface is so much different from what you had originally thought it was.  It was magical.  You feel Sans place a hand on your shoulder.

“Let’s get moving, sweetheart.  Undyne is pretty fast, for a fish lady.”  Sans started walking down farther into the cave, but you stay to whisper one last message into the flower.  Then you run to catch up to Sans.

⬖⬖⬖

_ As a pair of forms leaves, an Echo Flowers mutters a message over and over like a fervent prayer. _

_ “You are not alone.”  The message repeats as an ownerless shadow passes over it. _

⬖⬖⬖

You and Sans walk down the dim path.  To your right, a deep chasm runs along the path.  You hear the distant sound of water rushing past.  A few streams interrupt the path you walk on to trickle down into the depths of the void next to you.

The thought that the water below you will one day find a way out of the cave fills you with determination.

To your right, there is a legde above your heads.  You suspect there is room enough to walk up there, but you never saw a path leading up there.  You focus on the path ahead of you.  A few tall reeds are growing in the way of the path, along with some tall grass.  The weeds are taller than your head.  Sans is walking next to you, silent, but you can tell he’s on edge.  He keeps glancing up at the raised ledge and jumps at every noise.  His pace is quick.  You reach the weeds when you hear something from the ledge.  Sans ducks into the thick underbrush, pulling you down with him.  From your spot on the ground you can just barely see two tall forms standing on the ledge.  One backs away from the other.  All of a sudden, you hear a cold voice.  

“Papyrus.  Just give up the human.  You’re my only friend; I don’t want to have to kill you.  You know the king demands that all humans be given to him.”  Undyne and Papyrus!  Undyne steps toward Papyrus menacingly and Papyrus takes another retreating step.  Papyrus spits at Undyne.

“We’re not friends.  Not if you’d put  _ that _ tyrant before trying to understand me.  The human belongs to Sans and I- it’s ours to torture and kill.”  You swallow at his words.  Sans puts a hand on your shoulder and squeezes.  

“You know I gave an oath- _ an oath _ \- to lay my life down for the king and the kingdom.  My loyalty comes before everything else.”  Undyne lifts her hand, and a blue spear appears within it.  Papyrus is backed against a wall.  “I’ll give you one more chance, Papyrus, before I kill you.  Where is the human?”  Papyrus shrugs nonchalantly.

Undyne lets loose a scream of fury as she launches the spear at Papyrus.  You close your eyes. Sans shouts.

⬖⬖⬖

You wait for the telltale crunch of the spear hitting Papyrus, but nothing comes.

You open one eye, then the other.

The spear hovers in front of your face.  You gasp and fall backwards.  The spear shivers where it floats, but doesn’t move.  You hear Sans grunt from by your side, and you look to see him focusing on the spear.  He must be using magic to stop the spear from moving, you realize.  One of his eyes flares from the effort, turning a blood red color. Sweat beads on his skull.

Undyne glares at you from the ledge while Papyrus exhales in relief and slumps against the wall.

“I  _ knew  _ you were here.  I just had to find you.”  Undyne’s blue face twists into a nasty smile, and she jumps down onto the path you and Sans were on.

In a flash Papyrus stands between you and the angry fish lady.  You hear a something shift in the weeds from behind you, but when you turn to look, you see nothing.  When you turn back, Sans has joined Papyrus in standing between you and Undyne.

You can see her red eyes glint in the light of the cave as she looks at you through the brothers.  

“I’ll be back to kill you.”  With that threat, Undyne turns and walks away quietly, surprisingly agile and stealthy in such a heavy-looking suit of armor.  The skelebros don’t relax until she fades away into the shadows.  

Sans and Papyrus look at each other, then back at you.  Papyrus is the first to speak.

“Our house in Snowdin is demolished.”  You’d expected that.  “We only have one choice now; get to Hotland.  If we go back to Snowdin, Undyne’ll corner us, and if we stay in Waterfall, she’ll find us and kill us easily.”  

Sans agrees, the three of you turn to continue down the path you and Sans had been following.  

As you begin to walk, Papyrus stumbles and collapses. 

Sans is there immediately, supporting Papyrus under one of his arms while you run to Papyrus’ other side and support him there.  You’re a bit short, but you try your best.  

“Paps, are you okay, bro?”  Sans asks his brother worriedly.  Papyrus nods wearily, leaning heavily on Sans.  It seems Papyrus had escaped the fight with Undyne unscathed.  You offer to let him stop and rest, but Papyrus shakes his head and stands straight.

“We must get out of Waterfall quickly.  The longer we’re here, the easier it is for Undyne to track us down and kill us.”

You pull yourselves out of the weeds and onto the path again.  Just as you’re about to set off, something shifts in the weeds.  Sans grabs you and pulls you against him, away from whatever is in the brambles.  

Something steps out of the grass.  It’s… a monster child?

The yellow little monster is practically jumping up and down in place cheerily.  He looks a bit like a dinosaur, with spikes that start at his brow and follow his spine all the way down his tail.  He doesn’t have any arms you note, as you see his red and black striped sweater lacked any sleeves.  Bruises discolor his face and legs, and one of his eyes is swollen shut.   Despite his injuries, he looks purely gleeful. 

“Yo!  Are you that human everyone’s been talking about?!”  The kid has his eyes trained on you, ignoring Sans and Papyrus.  Sans steps forward, but you stop him, giving him a reassuring nod.  He relaxes, and lets you turn back to the monster kid.

“Yeah,”  you say.  The monster’s eyes light up excitedly.  You give him a genuine smile.  Deep down,  your soul is filled with determination and warmth.  This kid’s existence is proof that there is hope for the monsters that live on the surface.  His soul seems untouched by the venomous nature of every other monster you’ve seen.

“That’s so cool!  Everyone says you came from under the mountain.  Is it true?”  You nod.  The kid questions you about yourself and the mountain, telling you stories of his own when you couldn’t find an answer.  He made for a great partner.  He was also a  _ huge _ fan of Undyne and Papyrus.

“Did you see how cool Undyne was?  Like, when she looked at you all cool, and said, ‘you’re gonna die.’”  You nod again.  Your head was starting to hurt from nodding so much. “She’s so fearless, and then there’s her partner, Papyrus.”  Up ahead, you see Papyrus stiffen, and you know both the skeleton brothers have been listening to you and the monster kid.

“He’s  _ so _ cool!  He’s got this really powerful attack and everything- the blue attack- where you, like, turn blue or something-”

“Your soul turns blue.”  The monster kid’s rant about Papyrus is cut off by the skeleton himself, who’s looking back at you and the kid.  The small monster’s eyes positively sparkle when he realizes the “Great and Terrible Papyrus” had been walking in front of him the entire time.

The kid jumps ahead to idolize Papyrus, while Sans drops back to talk to you.

“Hey, sweetheart.  You okay?”  You tell Sans you’re alive, which is better than dead.

You walk through the cave in quiet thought, occasionally walking through a random puddle.  The crystals that line the walls set the mood, making you feel cramped and nervous.

⬖⬖⬖

You and Sans have been walking together for some while now.  At some point, you had overtaken Papyrus and MK, as he wished to be called, walked behind you, MK chatting happily while Papyrus tried his best to ignore him.  You felt relaxed, surrounded by people you could trust.

Funny, you feel you’d at least remember feelings you’d had from your life underground, but you couldn’t be sure.  You felt as if you knew fear, anger, and pain well enough already, but the comfort of walking with Sans, Papyrus, and MK felt… new to you.  But that couldn’t be true if those were remnants of your memories from the Underground, could it?  

 

Just how bad  _ was _ your life underground?

⬖⬖⬖

“Did you hear that?”  Sans holds out an arm to stop you.  You glance around warily.   _ Hear what? _  You had been walking down the dark path, marveling at the luminescent mushrooms that grew in the shallow water when Sans stopped walking.

You hold your breath as you listen and… there!  You hear it.  

A small rustle of movement coming from your right.  You don’t need to look to know there are reeds that obscure anything hiding in them from your sight.  Sans leans down to your height and whispers into your ear.

“Don’t look to your right.  Act ignorant.  I know a place not far from here that’s safe.”  His breath warms your ear.  You understand his instructions, but yous still feel nervous.

Papyrus and MK had apparently not caught on to your and Sans worry, or the fact that you had stopped in your tracks, because they nearly run you over.

“Sans!  Why the hell are you standing in the middle of the path like an idiot?!”  Papyrus shrieks at Sans, and the sight is so very familiar to you, you can’t help but to giggle.  Papyrus turns on you, too.  “Don’t you dare laugh, human!  You’re as much as an idiot as Sans!”  You shrug, not particularly caring.  You can’t help but to feel that this is as close to affection as Papyrus can get.

“Sorry, bro.  Thought I heard a noise.”  Papyrus just slightly stills, the movement goes unnoticed by anyone watching except his brother.  They share a look only brothers can know.

“Your ears are almost as useless as you are, Sans.  You heard the water, is all.”  Sans shrugs noncommittally.

You notice as you walk, Sans and Papyrus press closer to you, keeping you between them, while MK happily hops next to you, chatting and laughing as if nothing had happened.

But even MK is protecting you in his own way.  You had seen him glance off the path to your right when Papyrus had yelled at Sans.  Now, he stays close to you, close enough that if  _ someone _ decided to hurt you from long distance, there’d be a chance of hitting him, too.  Despite his childish and friendly nature, you can tell MK has a high intelligence level.

⬖⬖⬖

“Alright, everybody follow me.  If you lose sight of me and the others,  _ stay where you are. _  If you wander off, I may never be able to find you again.”  Sans stands by a wall, cautiously telling you not to stray too far from him.  There aren’t as many crystals or mushrooms near this area, so it’s hard to tell what’s the wall and what’s thin air.  Sans, however, is not hard to see at all, and you realize a strange aura surrounds him, illuminating him in a soft red glow.  Actually, now that you’ve noticed it, you can see Papyrus and MK are illuminated by magic aura as well.

In fact, all of your group are looking at you expectantly, as if  _ you’d _ suddenly become engulfed by the foreign light.  You smile sheepishly at your group of… acquaintances.

⬖⬖⬖

“I  _ can’t believe _ humans don’t have auras,”  Sans hisses at you.  You feel his grip on your shoulder squeeze harder in the pitch black.  Sans hadn’t been kidding about how dark the hidden pathway would get.  You can’t even see him, although he ensures you his aura is still there.  Papyrus and MK are following just fine.  Monsters must have better eyesight than humans.

The air around you is stale and smells of feces, and all noise is muffled.  You can’t see an inch in front of you, and you can just barely make out the soft tap of your boots hitting the ground.

The smell of dung and faint iron grows stronger and you wrinkle your nose in dismay, wondering  _ what _ could make such an awful smell.

You feel immense relief when you realize the pathway is growing lighter, and you can see the outline of Sans once more.  It seems you’ve reached the hideout.

⬖⬖⬖

“I see you’ve found your way back to my sanctuary, skeleton.”  A small monster greets you as you step into a larger area, addressing Sans.  You’re not outside the cave that is Waterfall, but you still feel refreshed.

The monster looks like a cross between a dog and a cat, with four ears.  It wears a little business suit and a monocle covers one of its eyes.  It looks at you, Papyrus, and MK.

“You’ve brought friends?”  The monster turns its gray-haired head toward Sans, who nods.  “Are they fugitives of some sort?” it asks skeptically.  You decide it’s time for you to jump in.

“Yes.”  The monster looks at you, clearly annoyed that you had answered for Sans.  “We just need to stay here for the night,” you say, hoping this little monster might have charity for you.  It rolls its eyes and walks farther into the cavern.

“Welcome to Temtown.  My name is Temmie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to explain a few things real quick-  
> MK is Monster Kid. They're not all mean like everyone else because they're still a kid- they don't understand why anyone has to hate anyone else.  
> Temmie is literate, and they hide fugitives.
> 
>  
> 
> Okay, now that explanations are out of the way, I'm thinking of having you guys help decide a few things on how the story goes. Here's my question; Should Undyne find her way into Temtown, or do we get a little bit of plot and have Ms. Fish-stick find them later?


	4. Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Temtown isn't as safe as it seems, though Sans has a lot of friends he can turn to. Frisk learns some history, and MK saves the day!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!  
> Gee, I had some great writer's block while writing this chapter!  
> Fortunately, I found some inspiration and went off of it.  
> A thanks to kirikosinn, SwiftKickInTheButt, and shini for leaving comments!  
> I love it when you guys leave comments, so feel free to comment away, and don't be afraid to leave me some constructive criticism- I'll do a lot for you guys to enjoy this story!

Temmie had gotten you and your party situated in a ragtag tent near the walls of the tavern.  As you had walked with Temmie and the others, you had taken it upon yourself to take in the details of Temtown.

Hundreds of tents had been set up around the large area, and many versions of Temmie themselves ran around between the tents, acting as a service and messaging system.  MK had gotten jumpy and stared at the various monsters that roamed the cave.  

⬖⬖⬖

Now, as you sit in the tent, squished between Sans and Papyrus, you try to make sense of your situation.

“What’s going on here?”  You look at Sans as you ask, but MK is the one to respond.

“This must be a hideout!”  MK enthusiastically explains.  “Where criminals running from Undyne go!  But she’ll find them, cuz she’s really smart!”  You smile at MK, but you hope for the love of god that Undyne doesn’t find her way here in the near future.  Sans looks a little worried as well, but Papyrus just leans back and closes his eyes.  You peer at the skeleton, trying to figure out what he’s doing, but a snore rises from his body.  Oh.  You suppose it would be late, and you feel a bit sluggish yourself.  You tell Sans and MK goodnight and lie back.  Papyrus, in his sleep, grunts at you and turns away so his back faces you.

_ Love you too, Papyrus. _

⬖⬖⬖

_ It’s late.  You feel sluggish, your eyelids feel heavy, but somehow you manage to stand up.  You look at your hands, which blur in and out  of your vision.  You want to go back to sleep, but something tells you that you already  _ are _.  You look around your tent and notice Sans, Papyrus, and MK are missing.  You can’t help but to feel something is very wrong here.  You stand up, grabbing the entrance of the tent and pull yourself outside into the bright light. _

_ The bright light, of course, being created by the flames that rage around you.  Wails sound around you and you see hundreds of monsters burning in the fire.  They look at you, screaming and pleading for mercy.  Their skins melt, fur falls to the ground and hundreds of eyes stare at you from the orange and yellow flames.  You try to run into the fire, to help the monsters who reach out to you in a last grab at life, but you’re thrown back to the ground that is untouched by the flames.  A barrier is keeping you from helping the dying monsters.  You glance around, and notice a path has opened up between the fiery masses. _

_ You cautiously walk down the path, realizing it leads toward the center of the fugitive camp.  The flames part before you like the red sea, and you see a clearing.  _

_ Many familiar forms, hanging from gallows, sway before you as your eyes widen in horror. _

_ Papyrus, Sans, MK, Undyne… and so many other monsters you have met in your time aboveground. _

_ Standing in front of them is an ownerless shadow.  You can see no face, no remarkable features, but you feel an ancient familiarity when you see the form.  It seems to know you, too. _

_ In a motion that almost seems like it’s only looking over its back, the black figure sweeps toward you, coming to a stop in front of you. _

_ “ _ Hurry up, or this will be all of their ends _ ,” the form says. _

⬖⬖⬖

You sit up gasping for breath, sweat making your skin sticky.  The nightmare is seared into your head like a mind-brand and you feel bile begin to rise in your throat.  You pick yourself out from between Sans and Papyrus and make your way out of the cramped tent, searching for fresh air.  The air is still stale, still choking you.  You can’t seem to find a way to breathe.

You gasp for air, grabbing at the tent for support.  The air is closing in on you.  The cave around you begins to warp, and suddenly you’re somewhere else.  The damp walls have become harder, less forgiving.  The ground tilts.

_ No.  No!  You’re not underground, you can’t be.  The air is so stale… you can’t breathe.  They told you you’d see the sun soon enough…  _

You’re faintly aware of falling to the ground.  Someone rushes to your side, yelling at you- but you’re somewhere else.

_ They tell you that they wouldn’t be forced underground any longer.  They don’t understand…  _

Someone picks you up.  You feel them moving around.

_ They tell you they have an army.  They tell you the  _ **_monsters_ ** _ won’t see it coming… _

Someone else is here.  The person holding you stops and shouts.  

_ Their machines will kill them all.   _

The screaming starts.

⬖⬖⬖

Sometimes flashbacks are just little images that take up the breadth of a second, nothing more, nothing less.   Sometimes they’re surprising flashes of memories stuffed into the back of your head, never meant to be thought of again, that surface at the worst times.  And sometimes they are powerful flashbacks, enough to  _ feel _ as if you are actually a part of the memory.  They fill all your senses- leaving your consciousness dead to the outside world.

But maybe something can pull you out of such reveries- such as the feel of ice cold water on your face, or the screaming of a loved one.

Neither are what pull you out of your limp state- though you've experienced both- no, it’s the immense feeling of being hunted.  The feeling of a rabbit before the cat pounces, so to say.

⬖⬖⬖

You wake up sputtering and coughing in a familiar set of arms.  Sans is has you in an iron grip on you, making sure you don’t fall out of his arms as he runs.  All around you the stale air of Waterfall whirls.  

You grip onto Sans, fearful of falling, but Sans’ arms are strong enough to carry you.

Screams rise in the air, coming from the surrounding dark- adding to your confusion and growing worry.  You feel something is amiss- aside from the fact that Sans is actually carrying you and not forcing you to walk on your own.  Papyrus is nowhere to be seen- that’s usually not a good sign.

From your place in Sans’ arms you see tents as you run past them, but they seem unoccupied.   That’s when you notice the screams are coming from behind you.  

_ You must be running from something _ , you realize.  Whatever was strong enough to make all those screams come from the monsters behind you must be scary.  A monster to even monsters.  You’re suddenly glad of the solidarity of Sans’ arms around you.  They make you feel safe- not that they could protect you from any attacks, though.

For all of your gripping onto Sans, you nearly fall straight out of his arms when he stops dead in his tracks.  You look up to see him staring at something in front of him, eyes blank, teeth bared in a feral growl.  You look at the source of his gaze and your heart nearly stops.

Undyne stands at the ready, one hand gripping a spear and the other placed firmly on her hip.  She stands in front of you and Sans with a grim finality that makes you swallow.  Sans places you next to him as Undyne stares at you with disgust.

“A little human made it all the way into _my_ _home_ ,”  Undyne begins.  Something she says sets your brain gears spinning.  Did she call Waterfall her home?  “And thinks they can get away with hiding from me.”  The fish monster finishes her monologue, leaving you staring at her, thoughts still in motion.

Sans tenses up, putting a protective hand on your shoulder. “Leave the human alone, Undyne.  We all know your little speech about following the king’s laws was a lie,”  he says tersely.  

Undyne grins maniacally, her red eyes glinting dangerously.  “Of  _ course _ I wouldn’t do that!”  She feigns mock surprise.  “Who do you take me for, a lowly  _ skeleton _ ?” Sans bristles at her insult.  “The king says all souls should be turned in to the kingdom- the royal scientist is part of the kingdom.”  Her eyes narrow at you in a way that makes you shiver.  She seems really scary.

You hear heavy steps behind you- Papyrus’ footsteps.  He walks up to where Sans is and grabs your shoulder in an almost protective manner.

You know that one day, Undyne and you will meet, and you will fight, but that time has not yet come.  Sans grabs your arm.  Undyne’s eyes widen in surprise as she realizes she took too long monologuing.  She lunges as you, Papyrus, and Sans disappear.

⬖⬖⬖

As you finish heaving the remnants of your last meal from the sudden teleport, you glance around you to gauge your surroundings.  You’re in another cavern that is lined by luminescent crystals.  Water gathers around your ankles, soaking your boots and chilling your feet.  Sans and Papyrus stand a few yards from you, arguing.  In the distance, you see a flood of light- and a shadow moving about.  Sans walks over to you, breaking off his conversation with his brother.

“C’mon, sweetheart, I have a friend I want you to meet.”  

⬖⬖⬖

The  _ friend _ is a massive turtle. He looks old and withered,  his eyes narrowing in thoughtful scrutiny when he lays his eyes upon you.  His shell acts almost like clothes for him, though he wears trousers and a safari hat.  His grey hair peeks out from beneath the brim.

Sans had explained to you that the turtle went by the name of Gerson, and that he held secrets and rare items found nowhere else.  He also made for a great last- resort hideout.  Gerson doesn’t mind the three of you using his shop to lie low, but he says he requires payment.

“Give me five minutes to talk to the human, and I’ll let you hide here, free of charge,”  he says in a raspy voice.  Sans looks wary of the turtle, but you’re more curious than worried.  This is the first monster to actually not be disgusted or afraid enough of you to not want to talk with you.  Temmie had been to busy with other fugitives to have even noticed you.  

Sans and Papyrus disappear into a back room, leaving you and the withered turtle alone.  He looks at you with an unnerving glare before speaking.

“You want to know more about the Upperground, no?” Gerson asks you in his slow drawl.  You nod slowly.  “Good.  I’m going to tell you about it.”  He begins to tell you about the monsters that trapped the human race beneath the surface of the world.

“The monsters weren’t always so vile.  Once, we were a… normal race of beings.  Some were kind, others were evil,  but we weren’t too different from the humans, I suppose.  The king and queen even considered humans as friends- one of their children was an adopted human.  Then, I guess you know the stories of how the monsters turned on the human race- but you were never told why, were you?  Their child, the very one they loved and cherished, was killed.  Brutally slaughtered by their own race when they went out to play.  Turns out, human spies had invaded the gardens and waited for the royal family to appear.  When the rest of the family found the human, the second child, a monster, ran to their sibling’s body-but the assassins were still there.  They killed the prince right in front of the king and queen’s eyes.  The king was quick to slay the humans, while the queen broke down into a nervous wreck.  The rulers later found out that the assassins had royal badges- they had been legally sent by the human kingdom.

“The king declared war, and after the deaths of the prince and his sibling, the monsters were happy to oblige.  We forced the human race into near extinction before they escaped underground.  Otherwise they’d be extinct.”

You shiver, processing the information.  If what you heard was true, then the  _ humans _ had been the ones to do themselves in.

*** But you can’t** **_really_ ** **trust a monster, now can you?**

You whirl around, hearing a haunting but familiar voice speak out to you.  No one is in the room with you save for the ancient turtle.

Gerson notices your unease with a smile but mistakes its source as his story.  He hasn’t seemed to have heard the voice.

“Hard to accept your race did something wrong?  Well, I don’t blame you- you’ve been told your whole life that your race did nothing wrong.  I’d believe what they told me too, if I hadn’t been there during the war.”  Gerson had your full attention now.  If he’d been there during the war…

“I know a lot of things about the surface world, having been around so long.  I used to be known as the War Hammer- but those days are long gone.  I can’t even be called a mentor anymore.”  You cock your head.   _ Mentor?   _  Gerson notices your curiosity.  “Ah, yes, I was a mentor- I trained one of the best warriors on the surface, nowadays.  Her name was Undyne.”  

You step back, surprised.   _ This _ frail- looking turtle had trained  _ Undyne _ ?!

*** Looks can be deceiving- look at you, you look innocent, but you know the** **_real_ ** **reason you’re on the surface.**

Gerson continues, again having not noticed the disembodied voice.  “She was a fiesty one, always yelling at me to teach her once she learned I had fought in the war.  She proved to be a competent enough pupil- once she learned something, she was quick to master it.  She only ever complained when we trained too close to Hotland.  Always said something about it being too hot.”

Of course Undyne wouldn’t like the heat.  She seems to be very wary of hot and dry climates, which is what you’ve come to know Hotland as.  If she ever catches you alone, all you have to do is run to Hotland.  Assuming you know where Hotland is.

*** Thanks for the tip.**

_ Again _ with that voice!  It seems to be coming from nowhere-but Gerson doesn’t notice it.  Maybe it’s all in your head.   You wouldn’t blame yourself for going crazy- the surface is almost too much to handle at times.

⬖⬖⬖

“Thanks for keepin’ us, Gerson.  I’ll return the favor later.”  Sans waves back at the old turtle.  You feel like the turtle might once have been kind and wise, but living in the hate-infested world above had made him bitter.

Sans walks beside you as your party of three trudges through the ankle-deep water that seems to plague all the pathways in Waterfall.  You don’t mind the water much- it’s a warm substitute of the frigid snow that seems to symbolize Snowdin.

Your party takes a path down a tunnel, eventually connecting to a larger path, which you assume is the main route through Waterfall.  It’s completely out in the open; any one could see the three of you walking down it.  You voice your concern to Sans, who chuckles and shrugs it off.

“Undyne underestimates the power of stupidity,”  he says.  You suppose Undyne  _ would _ expect you to take hidden routes and stay low- although the main route is probably the fastest way through the dank cave.  You feel as if someone is watching you- but noone is behind you when you glance over your shoulder to check.  

As you, Sans, and Papyrus walk through Waterfall, you see a few almost amusing scenes;  a very cranky ghost who you vaguely recognize from a brief encounter in the ruins, a somewhat fish- shaped house, and an empty snail fighting ring.  Sans explains to you that the ring usually gets  _ slow _ business.

...

Wait, was that a pun? 

You finally come across a large stone that blocks your path in an almost apologetic manner.  Its surface is completely smooth- and it’s taller than even Papyrus.  You can tell it had obviously been thrown into the way of the path by Undyne-possibly to hinder your progress.  As you, Sans, and Papyrus ponder how you could  _ possibly _ get past such an enormous obstacle, you hear footsteps behind you.

Fearing the worst, you duck and whirl around, expecting an angry fish.

You get the opposite.  

MK stands there, grinning boisterously like he’s the happiest monster kid in the world.  He probably is.  He notices the rock behind you, and considerably brightens up.

“D’ya need help?”  He gestures at the boulder as best he can, having a lack of arms to gesture  _ with _ .  “I can get you guys over!”  He hops excitedly in place.  You smile at his positive attitude.  You had felt bad after leaving MK in the fugitive camp to face Undyne’s wrath, but at the same time, it had been get out of there or die.

Sans looks annoyed at the child’s sudden appearance, but lets MK pass him as he walks to the wall.  

MK lowers himself to his knees and places his head on the ground, so his back makes a sort of stepping stone.

“Use my back to climb up on top of the rock- the Great Papyrus goes first!”  He looks excited to be able to help, but you’re concerned of Papyrus’ weight hurting the child’s back.

Papyrus, however, doesn’t have any reservations about MK’s comfort as he quickly strides over to the small monster and uses him to heft himself to the top of the boulder.  Sans follows him quickly enough, and soon it’s your turn to climb the rock.  

You gingerly place your foot on MK’s back, hoping you don’t weigh too much for him to handle, and throw yourself at the top of the stone.  The skeleton brothers, having had no problems pulling themselves over because of their height, have an advantage you don’t have; you’re much smaller than them. 

As you try to lift yourself over the stone, your arms scrabble for purchase as you begin to slip back toward MK.  Just before you lose your grip, a bony hand grabs your arm and heaves you over the rock.  You fall in a heap, but jump up to help MK.

As you reach your hand over the rock and look at MK, you realize your mistake.  MK has no arms to be pulled up with- he can’t follow you and the rest of the party.  He doesn’t seem fazed by it, though, as he grins and tells you that he’ll catch up to you later.  You hesitantly turn back toward your skeleton friends.  The continuous journey onward has resumed.

⬖⬖⬖

You enter a tunnel that has an almost purple aura to it; calming, relaxing… The ceiling drips with the occasional precipitation, but the umbrella you hold blocks it from hitting you.  You walk the beautiful hall silently- even the skeleton brothers have ceased their arguing for  _ once _ to marvel at the natural beauty of the tunnel.  Then, as you continue your steady shuffle, you see a gathering of light glancing off an unmoving figure- a statue, bathed in light.  You wander ahead of the brothers to gaze at its broken form.  It looks as if it might have once depicted an ethereal creature holding another in its arms.  Now, it looks sad and lonely.  You feel the weight of the umbrella in your hand as you reminisce over what might have once been.  An idea pops into your head.

You lift the umbrella over the stone figure, shielding it from the rain that somehow finds its way into the cave through the small sunhole above the statue.  The umbrella holds itself in place over the sad figure.  You step back to marvel at the silent beauty of the statue before turning to catch up to the skeletons, who have walked ahead by now.

You stop as a faint sound drifts around you.   _ Music _ , soft as the sound of rain hitting stone, floats through the air.  The skeletons pause.  From the statue, a little melody plays its haunting tune, telling a tale of forgotten times- times that are long past.  Movement above the statue catches your eyes, and you see writing in the granite that did not exist before.

‘ _ Memory,’  _ it says.   _ ‘Listen to this song and remember.’ _  You tear your gaze away from the statue as your hear the skelebros begin to walk again.  There is a journey ahead of you.  The time to remember will come later.

⬖⬖⬖

After having looked at the castle that stood so very far from an opening in the cave, you feel apprehensive.  Sans had told you that two more provinces laid between Waterfall and the Castle, Hotland and the Core.

Now, as you walked down a bridge that connects two parts of the cave over a deep chasm, you can’t help but hear a voice in your head scream,

_ Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up. _

MK had joined your posse again at some point, considerably lightening the otherwise grim mood.  He bounces along behind you and the skelebros now, quite jovially, to be honest.  

Now, just before you reach the end of the bridge, you hear a scuffle and MK manages to get out half a squeal before it’s cut off abruptly.

You spin around, completely unprepared to see MK hanging off the side of the bridge, just barely hanging on by his teeth.  On the other end of the bridge stands no other than the fearsome Undyne herself.  She glowers at you with a murderous glare, but you focus your attention on MK.  He’s slipping- you can see his sharp teeth begin to slide toward the edge.  

Sans and Papyrus shout at you to run, but you  _ can’t. _  Not after you left MK at Temtown, and not now that he’s in real danger. 

You dash forward and grab MK by the back of his sweatshirt, heaving him back up onto the safety of the bridge.  You let out a huge sigh of relief, then look up to see Undyne towering over you.  In the time you had taken to save your friend, Undyne had crossed the distance between the two of you.  She grins down at you, spear in hand. 

“Say goodbye, human,” she says.

In a flash, MK is standing in front of you protectively.  He growls at the fish lady.

“Ya know, I used to think you were really cool, but that was before you tried to hurt my friend.”  He shivers where he stands under Undyne’s gaze, but he stands his ground.  You feel Sans pull you back and push you behind him as both he and Papyrus back MK up.  

Sans looks back at you.

“Get outta here.”

You don’t need to be told twice.  You feel worried about MK, Sans, and Papyrus- but you know at least Sans and Papyrus can handle themselves, and MK is pretty clever, too.  You turn tail and flee out of the cavern- into the sunshine.  

You’re outside of the cave you’ve been travelling in for who knows how long.  In front of you is a massive heap of rubble- and on top is…

Undyne.

She grins with a sort of glint in her eye that can only be described as evil.  

“It’s amazing what illusion magic can do,  _ ya? _  It’s just you and me now, human.”

The wind howls, filling you with Determination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehe...  
> Yes, I did make a pun, and no, I don't regret it.  
> Also, who do you think the character with the bolded words is? I'd like to see your thoughts on what's going on- Leave a comment!
> 
> P.S.  
> Sorry for making this chapter kind of short- it's a tough week to be writing. You'll get more of the story soon!


	5. Fish out of Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A major battle goes down, Frisk runs into the belly of a volcano, and a nice conversation over some tea happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AH!  
> I'm really sorry for not updating the story for two weeks! I'm terribly behind.  
> Anyway, I've sort of thought of maybe writing another story as I go along.  
> It'll certainly have shorter chapters.  
> OKAY.  
> With that out, yes, I've made another chapter for all you lovely readers.  
> Enjoy!

Fear is a feeling you’ve grown familiar with ever since you left the underground.

Toriel’s psychotic need to protect you, Sans and Papyrus’ cynical ways, even the entire kingdom of monsters’ desire to kill you has plagued your days.  

However, fear is not what you feel as Undyne jumps down from the pile of rubble.  It’s terror- a pure, blind horror that chokes you.  There is no one who will save you now, not now that your friends are preoccupied with Undyne’s illusion.

The psychotic fish struts over to your immobilized form, gripping your chin when she reaches you.

Now being forced to look up, your eyes find their way to hers.

What you see unnerves you.  Stark red eyes, filled with an age-old hatred.  Suffering is mixed into her gaze, but what shakes you to your core is what hides behind those demented eyes. 

There is pain, yes, and hate, frustration- the feelings spread through the surface with an abundance.  But through that anger is a sort of hope.  A spark of life lives in those eyes, buried down so deep that it might as well be dead- but yet here it still fights to push through the negative feelings and for once, look upon the world in a less pessimistic view.

There may yet prove to be hope for Undyne.

Undyne, noticing that something about you is amiss, throws you down at the ground.

“I like fighting my enemies face-to-face.  Here,”  she says as she tosses you a smaller version of her terrifying spears. “Take this.  What fun is it to fight someone who can’t bite back?”  

So she expects you to use to spear to harm her.  Undyne obviously has not observed you as well as she thinks she has.

Your world goes dark as you’re pulled into a Fight.

***Undyne attacks!**

Undyne’s sharp features seem even sharper in the black-and-white world of the Fight.  Her red eyes glint down at you from high above as she looks down upon you.  You tremble in fear, but you raise yourself from your fetal position on the ground and raise the spear in front of you in a defensive position.  

Undyne grins.  “Now that’s what I like to see.  Maybe you’re not too bad of a coward, huh, human?”

She lifts her arm in preparation for her first move as you hold your spear in front of you.  

**“En guarde!”**

The Real Fight has begun.

⬖⬖⬖

A shower of spears rains down upon you as you desperately try to use your spear as a shield.

Surprisingly, your ability to block Undyne’s weapons of choice has turned out to be quite impressive.  As each spear bears down upon you, you weave and duck, spinning the spear around you as fast as you can, to catch any weapons that slip past your defenses.

No matter how hard you try, a few spears always find their mark, leaving you with various cuts and bruises.  You’d run, but you’d feel bad for leaving Undyne just after she had called you brave.

A childish feeling, you know, but you couldn't help but feel a tiny twinge of pride when Undyne had said you weren’t as much of a coward as she had originally thought.

Anyway, you can’t run even if you want- Undyne’s magic has some strange sort of hold on you, forcing you to stay in the same position, rendering running useless.  You like the way it makes your SOUL look green, though.  

Although, you suppose, if it really got bad for you, you would have to find a way to run from Undyne.  

You remember Sans’ words; “ _ Undyne is pretty fast, for a fish lady.” _  You’d just have to be faster.

You roll on the ground and jump up as a spear flies your way.

**“Not bad!  Then how about THIS!?”**

Undyne unleashes another fury of spears upon you.  They’re suspiciously easy to block.  As the last four spears fly at you, you notice they’re different from the others.  They’re white, instead of Undyne’s usual red.  You swallow and ready yourself for the unexpected.

As soon as they reach two meters away from you, they whip around to the side opposite of where they came from.  Of course, though you might have expected this, you just aren’t fast enough to catch these special spears.  They find purchase.

You scream as one finds your side and a crunch is heard as another slams into your shoulder.  You sink to the ground as your spear falls from your limp hand.  You’re sure you’re going to die now;  at least you saved just before you ran into the room that held Undyne’s illusion.  You feel a bit disappointed, however; you feel as if, just by fighting her, you and Undyne have grown closer to understanding each other.

Undyne bears down on you as you pant on the ground beneath the sunlight that you’ve waited for so long to see.  The thought that you’ll be killed sends a rush of Determination through you.  You can’t die, you just  _ can’t! _

You roll as a sharp weapon flies through where your chest was a second ago.  You grun as the wounds inflicted by spears give you hell for moving, but you endure the pain.  After all, you’re  _ Determined _ to see this fight through to the end.

**“Heh… you’re tough!”**

You stand up.  Your hands quiver as you raise your flimsy shield again.  You grab a few SeaTeas that Gerson had given you and chug them, feeling your pains grow dimmer.  After all the fights you’ve had on the surface, you’ve come to realize that eating the food that the surface has will act almost as painkillers- but they also heal the wounds as well.  

**“Alphys told me humans were determined…”**

It’s Undyne’s turn.  She throws more of those white, backwards spears at you, but this time you can dodge easily.

**“I see now what she meant by that!”**

Your spear whirls around you as a flurry of spears flies at you.

**“But I’m determined, too!”**

Undyne’s monologuing cuts into her attacks between each set of spears.

**“Determined to end this RIGHT NOW!”**

**“...RIGHT NOW…”**

**“Ha… Ha…”**

**“NGAHHH!  DIE ALREADY, YOU LITTLE BRAT!”**

Undyne’s movements become slower as she tires.  You’re much more tired, but the power of your determination and the adrenaline of your fear keeps you going.

The spears become slower, farther in between.  You know you just have to carry on a little while longer…  _ There! _

Undyne’s magic hold on your SOUL falters, letting it turn red again.  You don’t hesitate to run; you’re much more tired than Undyne, and your resources are low.  If you stay with her and fight, you’ll wind up dying.

You turn tail and flee around the large pile of rubble.

Undyne’s scream of rage can be heard for miles.   You sprint down the path that leads away from the cave and toward an area that seems to have a volcano.  Even the sky is red near that area.  Perhaps it’s Hotland.

You hear Undyne’s feet pounding behind you. 

**“Honestly, I’m doing you a favor…”**

She’s catching up.  You need to run  _ faster. _

**“You won’t get away from me this time!”**

Your breath catches.  She sounds so close!  If you could see where she was… No! You musn’t look back!  You’d only be slowed down.

**“COME BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE PUNK!”**

The air is getting hotter.  The grass around you turns into dry, red sand.  The path becomes less rocky, more straight.  The sky fades from cerulean blue to a faint red.  The volcano looms above you as signs of civilization begin to appear.  A big billboard runs alongside the path, saying, “ _ Welcome to  _ _ Hotland! _ _ Hell.”  _ You feel like you’ve seen that vandalizm before.  A certain snowy town comes to mind.

Behind you, Undyne’s breathing has become more laborious as the air around you has becomes hotter and more dry.  The path turns from gravel to metal, and you see why as the ground suddenly stops up in front of you.  The path turns into a bridge.  Before the immediate drop, there’s a sentry station.  The metal thumps as you and Undyne hurtle over it.  The bridge runs over a large vat of lava- the source of the now intense heat.  The sweltering air slows your momentum, and by the end of the bridge, you’ve slowed to a limping jog, gasping for air.  You expect Undyne to grab you, but she doesn’t.  You turn.

The fish-like monsters fares much worse than you.  She collapses on the ground, falling onto a heap.  You realize her armor is metal- it’s probably too hot for her.  You look for any sort of item around you to help her, but there’s no water- it’s too hot for that.

You immediately jump to her side.  It’s the armor- you  _ have _ to get it off her.  You reach to grab the plates on Undyne’s shoulders, then withdraw your hand with a sharp hiss.  The armor is  _ hot. _  It burns to the touch.  No wonder Undyne is lying on the ground panting.  She must be burning alive.  The thought that she was wearing a full suit of armor that hot brings you to attempt to get her armor off again.  The metal might hurt your hands, but she’s  _ wearing it. _  She’s in a much worse off position than you.

You grab the pads on her shoulders and pull, eventually freeing the pauldrons.  You start on her backplate, pulling and twisting until it comes loose.  Under the armor, Undyne wears a thin, black tank top.  Steam loosely radiates off her sweat- soaked back.  You flip Undyne onto her back and tear away her breastplate, then the gauntlets.  Undyne is free of the top half of her armor.  You can tell she’s begun to cool down- her panting is not as panicked.  You pull away the last of her espaulieres, jambs, and sollerets, and Undyne is free of the heated junk that could have once been called her armor.  In the heat, they’ve twisted and bent out of shape.

Your hands hurt, and you know you’ve probably burnt away the skin, but you’re better than Undyne, who has burns covering any bare skin she has that had touched her armor. 

She’s unconscious, but her breathing is close to normal.  She doesn’t look…  _ right _ , though.  She looks, well, dry, like a fish out of water.

Oh.  _ Oh.  A fish out of water! _

You curse at yourself for not thinking of this sooner.  Undyne is a fish- type monster, so naturally, she’d like damp, cool environments- the exact opposite of Hotland.  You’d just thought Undyne didn’t like the heat of Hotland.  As you look down on the once-murderous monster, you steel yourself for the task you know you have to do. 

⬖⬖⬖

Your burning hands keep gipping the soft fabric of Undyne’s shirt as you haul the tall, female monster down the path that leads away from hotland.  The sun you had once been overjoyed to see swelters down at you.  Sweat runs down the side of your face in little rivulets.  You breathe heavily, but you keep your arms wrapped around Undyne’s shoulders as you drag her back toward the large cave that grows larger at a snail pace.  She’s much larger than you- and really heavy.  You’re pulling what must be a few hundred pounds of pure muscle down a gravel path under the heat of the surface’s sun.  By all costs, the frail form that you are should not be able to carry Undyne’s mass, but by some scrap of Determination you’ve managed to hold onto, you continue on.

⬖⬖⬖

By the time you reach the cave, the sun has touched the distant horizon of the surface, and the land has become bathed in a luxurious golden hue.

The sight is magic.  Everything looks softer, like a memory infused with happier times and smiles.  You hear the distant waterfalls within the cave behind you rushing, and the sound blends beautifully with the gold scene before you.  You’ve realized something.

Sunsets are the most beautiful thing on the surface.

⬖⬖⬖

Temptation.

It’s such a strong feeling.

The want to drop everything for just a moment of doing something you enjoy.

It takes  _ Determination _ to resist it.

⬖⬖⬖

You turn away from the sunset.  However beautiful it is, you’ll never be able to share one with Undyne if you don’t get her to water, soon.

The cave blocks out the last light of the sunset as you enter it, almost like snuffing a candle.  The damp environment surrounds you.

Undyne’s breathing has become much easier- it’s like she can sense the change of setting.

You look desperately for a pool of water.

⬖⬖⬖

The small pool is right at the side of a path- almost unseen.  It’s just the perfect size for Undyne. 

With what little strength you have left, you heave her to the cool water.  The water hisses on impact with the burns covering Undyne’s body, but you ease her in slowly.  You let her body rest in the shallow water as you move a ways away to stick your own hands in the water, sighing as the liquid meets your abused skin.  Freeing Undyne from her armor had taken a heavy toll on your hands- there are blistering welts covering your palms, and the skin is an angry red.  The pads of your fingers are nearly melting- skin gathering here and there, thinning out over your finger in some places.  Irreversible damage.  

You look to see the wounds Undyne has suffered, but you realize she’s not where you left her.

⬖⬖⬖

You sit up slowly, stiffly, until you feel the sharp tip of a spear at the small of your back.  Undyne is behind you.

“You will tell me what happened, and you will tell me the truth.”  Undyne’s cold, authoritative tone is loud to your ears.  You wince.

You tell Undyne that she had passed out in Hotland.  You tell her of how you pulled her overheating armor off of her, using your hands as proof, then you tell her how you dragged her back to Waterfall and set her in a pool.

Undyne scoffs.

“Do you really expect me to believe that bullshit?  You’d’ve run away if you had the chance,” she says.

You ask Undyne if she really believes that.  She looks… at a loss for words.  Finally, she gruffly gestures for you to get up and follow her.

“Come on.  We both deserve some tea and explanations after all this.”  She leads you out onto the main path.

⬖⬖⬖

As you follow Undyne- who seems to be reluctantly letting you live- you notice damage has been dealt all around the cavern.  Scorch-marks and holes pockmark the wall.  Obviously, your friends have been through this passageway.  Abandoned bones litter the ground.

You ask Undyne what might have become of your friends.  She grunts.

“The illusion was meant to lead them far into Snowdin and then disappear.”

So she had meant to lead them away- not kill them.  Hope alights inside you at the knowledge that your friends are probably still alive, but you’re also happy for another reason.  Undyne had only meant to lead your friends away- she hadn’t wanted to kill them.  

Maybe she’s not all that evil after all.

⬖⬖⬖

Undyne stops in front of a small, round house.  It looks like an angry fish.  

Lights are lit up cheerily inside, and Undyne leads you through the front door.

Inside, there is an almost reluctantly dark atmosphere.  The walls are red, but they’re almost pastel, like whoever painted didn’t want them to be an angry, blood red.

The furniture is all black, but it’s comfy.

Undyne begrudgingly leads you to a wooden table and tells you to sit down.  When you’re seated, she strides over to her kitchen and asks you what tea you want.

You start to get up to show her, but in less than a second, she has a spear pointed at your throat.   You freeze.

“Stay where you are,” Undyne growls menacingly.  You sit down again and point at the golden flower tea.  Undyne looks taken aback.

“That’s  _ my _ favorite tea!”  

You grin at Undyne, and tell her maybe the two of you have a lot in common.

She sits down heavily on the other side of the table when both of you have your tea.

“Alright,” she says. “You’re going to tell me what happened  _ in detail _ , and I’m going to tell you some things, too.”

⬖⬖⬖

Undyne takes another sip of her tea as she processes the information you just told her.  You’d told her of how you had run into Hotland, how she collapsed, and how you’d saved her.  Not once did she scoff or look incredulous.

“You… saved me?” she asks.  You nod.  Undyne sighs and looks down.  “That’ll get you killed, kid.  Not everyone out there is willing to give you tea when you try to help them.”  You tell her you know this, but she shakes her head.

“No, you don’t understand.  I’m called Undyne the Undying, because of how strong I am, but the king’s much stronger- and ruthless.  He won’t hesitate to kill you, no matter how much you give him mercy.  You’re the seventh soul to reach the surface- the last he needs to become an absolute god.”

You ask why he wants to become a god.

“Greed.  What else?  Why just be a king when you can be a god?”

You nod in understanding.

“Anyway, you deserve an explanation.  How much do you know about the surface?”

You tell Undyne the extent of what Gerson had told you when you hid with him.  You don’t mention his name, though.  Undyne figures it out anyway.

“So Gerson told you a bit of history, hm?  Don’t worry, I know all about that old bastard.  Well, he told you the bare basics,” Undyne tells you.  “After we forced the humans underground, the king passed a law stating it was a kill or be killed world.  Everyone was forced to get rid of friends and hurt others, all this because the king wanted to exercise his power over all of us.  Eventually, people got used to it.”

You feel horrified.  The world had been forced to be the way it was today!

Undyne continues.  “When I was a kid, I always wanted to join the infamous king’s Royal Guard.  Everyone thought I just had a naturally malicious nature, that I thought it was fun to hurt others.  It wasn’t that.  I was…”

She trails off, looking past you, into memories of the past.  She begins again.  “I was scared.  I thought that if I was in the Guard, no one would hurt me.  Selfish, right?  I guess I was thinking in the way of kill or be killed.  When I got in, I made sure I pushed my way into the attention of the king- so he’d make me captain.  But it was hard- someone else was doing the same as me.  A skeleton was also trying to push his way up in the ranks of the Guard.  He was called Papyrus.”

So Papyrus was in the Guard, too.

“We were both competition for each other- so we decided to solve the problem.  I had grown used to hurting others, so I challenged the skeleton to a duel.  We were to meet and fight to the death, but before we could, the king found us.”  Undyne snaps out of her memories, and stares at you with an uncanny focus. “The king is a heartless asshole, you understand.  When he found us, we were both sure he would have us hanged.  It’s illegal, see, to kill another Royal Guardsman.  However, the king laughed and told us he liked our fierce souls.  He said we would be the co-captains of the Royal Guard.”

You take a sip of the now cold tea.

“Papyrus and I initially hated each other, but, being partners, we grew closer.  We became what might have been called friends in a different time.  Papyrus is very stubborn.  He… has a sort of dedication to the Guard.  Even though he doesn’t want to show it, I can tell that if things were different, Papyrus may have been a good person.”

You nod vigorously.  Papyrus has shown bits of kindness from time to time under his hard outer shell of cold indifference.

“And a few days ago, Papyrus missed a meeting.  That’s unheard of.  Papyrus would  _ never _ miss a meeting.  He’s always organized.  I… had to make sure he was okay.  It’s laughable.  The second most hated monster in the underground, and I was  _ concerned for his safety _ .”  Undyne laughs.  “I went to his house, but I heard the rumors of a human around Snowdin.  It wasn’t hard to put two and two together.”  She looks at you.  “You’d managed to make Papyrus your  _ friend _ , in what must have been a week.  You got closer to the monsters in Snowdin that what has even been possible for hundreds of years.”  She gives you an amazed look.  “And now, here I am, talking with you over a nice cup of tea.   _ What the hell even are you? _  How can you be so nice to all these monsters who want you dead?”

You start to answer, but someone else does the job for you.

“The human is a mystery all right, Undyne,”  Papyrus says from the doorway, Sans and MK standing behind him.  “But I’m sure they don’t try to kill their  _ friends _ .”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being disappointing, but yes, Hotland will be coming very soon, along with our favorite awkward dinosaur. Sorry for having Frisk be in Waterfall for so long, but it's one of my favorite areas, and I want to stretch their run on the surface out as long as I can before the real part of the plot begins.  
> Yes, you read that correctly.  
> This isn't just any AU- the main story line isn't just about Frisk and their monsters...  
> See you next time!


	6. Love is not so hard to come by

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The skeleton brothers leave the house for a day.  
> Then a storm happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ack! Major writer's block.  
> Like, seriously. It's pretty bad.  
> Anyway, I still wanted you guys to get some Reversefell, so I wrote a little Valentine's bonus.  
> I'm not even sure if I'm like, with this ship, but I needed material.  
> Ya know?  
> OH!  
> And I've started a tumblr.  
> So, you know, if you've ever wanted to see my crappy art or give me some of your own amazing stuff.  
> It's at this:  
> https://reversfellau.tumblr.com/  
> Ha. I don't know how to link.  
> Help.  
> Anyways, ENJOY!

You fall heavily onto the couch that seems to take up the majority of the first floor of the skeleton residence.  Its ugly mustard color seems is nearly repulsive to look at, and it smells like old mustard and lasagna, but it’s incredibly more comfy than the floor of the shed you’ve had to sleep on for the past few days.

Sans and Papyrus are… out.  They wouldn’t tell you what they were doing, other than they were going to be gone for a while, and they didn’t want you to freeze to death in the shed.

Not that they’d ever had any reservations about that before.

You can’t quite seem to figure out what the sadistic skeletons are getting at.

Suddenly, both of them leave the house for longer than a few hours, and they  _ insist _ on chaining you to the leg of the couch.

Huh.

You grin at the little handcuff that circles your right wrist.  It had been easy enough to lift the couch long enough to slip the other end of the cuffs out from under the leg, freeing you from your temporary imprisonment.

Of course, you’d made sure the brothers were far out of sight before you’d done that.

Can’t have Sans and Papyrus figuring out you’re not some mentally adept being, now can you?  Unless… they made it easy to escape on purpose.

You grin at the empty house, before realizing this is the perfect opportunity to go snooping around.

Too perfect.

You sneak up to the window that lies just behind the large couch, and peek out, trying to be as inconspicuous as you can.

Outside are the skelebro’s footprints, which lead out of the front door and down the path to a hazy, dark shape in the distance.  

You see another path of the same footprints leading back to the house and winding around the side of the house, where you know there’s another window.

So they thought they’d test your curiosity, huh?

Well, two- no,  _ three _ \- can play at that game.

⬖⬖⬖

You walk past the window where the two skeletons hide once more, plastering another determined expression on your face.

You’d been just walking past that window for a while now, making different silly expressions each time you pass it.

You’d heard Sans snicker at a few of the more silly ones, and Papyrus hiss at him to ‘ _ just shut up, will you?’ _

The sky outside grows progressively darker, and you wonder just how tolerant the skeletons really are.

They wear those thin, black coats- surely they must be freezing after being out there for so long!

Oh, and your silly faces- who knew they could endure the entirety of your stash of goofy expressions?

At least, you reason, they must have been out there a while, considering how dark the sky is.

When you reach the end of the hall, you see a digital clock that reads 11:38 A.M.  

You gasp.   _But Sans and Papyrus_ _left at 11,_ you think frantically.  This means it had only been around 30 minutes since the two skeletons had left!

Then… you glance out the window at the darkened sky, pretending not to see the footprints in the snow.

The sky sure is dark, alright, but it’s odd.

It’s grey, but you can see a small white ball shining down through thick clouds to you.  At that exact moment you look up, a large streak of electricity dashes down into the forest next to the house.  You yelp.  Then a booming sound reverberates through the air.  The sound is so loud a few of the items on shelves to shake.

You actually  _ scream  _ this time and sprint over to the couch, burying your head in the comfy pillows of the seat.

You curl yourself into a small ball as images flash through your mind and more thunder booms outside.   _ What’s happening? _

_ Their machines are working. _

_ Wait- _

_ No- _

_ SOMETHING WENT WRONG! _

_ EVACUATE! _

_ Frisk? _

You pop your eyes open immediately and decide it’s better to keep them open.  For some reason, a tear leaks from one of them, unnoticed.

Lightning illuminates the room again in a ghastly glow, and you see two shadows in the window right behind you.

You whirl around to see…

Sans grinning at you and Papyrus glaring down at you.

Well how about that.

…

You finally glance away from the skeletons, looking to your side.

You leap at least three feet into the air as you see Sans lounging on the mustard couch next to you.

Sans gives you a devilish grin before lifting a remote out of nowhere and turning the television on.  The front door opens and Papyrus stomps in, puffing and pulling off his enormous black boots.

“We decided we would wait out the storm,” he says.  Huh.  A storm, eh?  That’s what they call the bright, flashing lights and loud noises outside?

He sits down next to you, leaving you squished between the two brothers.

Well.

At least they don’t have body odor.

On the screen, a movie’s credits begin to roll.  The cast all consists of someone named Mettaton- except for the “Torturee” (Is that even a word?), whose name was apparently Burgerpants.

An obnoxiously loud voice calls out of the TV, reminding you to-

**_KILL YOURSELF_ ** .

You blink.

Sans grins and Papyrus laughs at the screen, as if it had some terribly funny joke, rather than telling you to end your life.

“What a nuisance that scrap of metal is,”  Papyrus begins.  “Absolutely no talent at- hey, where are your handcuffs?”

You look down at your arms, then at Papyrus.  Your legs, folded beneath you, tense to jump.

That is, they would have jumped, had it not been for Sans’ long arms wrapping around you and pulling you to him.

“Where do you think you’re goin’ sweetheart?  A  _ horror _ movie’s about to start,” He whispers into your ear.  He sounds delighted that he caught you in his arms- Papyrus, however, looks displeased at Sans using his arms to imprison you.

He grunts and returns his attention to the TV.  Sans keeps you safely imprisoned by dragging you closer to him and flinging a protective around your shoulders in case you decide you’d like to brave the bitter cold outside the house.

He needn’t be worried.

You finally watch the glass screen as a movie comes on.

A clap of thunder booms outside and you jump and yelp a bit.  The skeletons go still.  You look up at them in confusion.

Sans looks almost joyful as his eye sockets burn down at you.

“What, the little human afraid of thunder?”  He taunts.

You shake your head quickly, but the damage is done.  Though Sans might enjoy your company when he talks to you for long hours in that awful shed, he still has that sadistic sense of humor.  His arm keeps you from being able to shy away from the loud sounds the window makes as the wind shakes it.

_ *At least he doesn’t say PUNS.  That would truly be the most god awful experience. _

You shift uncomfortably under Sans’ arm.  The thought you’d just had had come out of the blue.  You had no context for that thought at all.   And worse yet, you can’t help but feel that thought… well…  _ sounded _ wrong. 

Like it wasn’t exactly your voice, your thought, your head.

You ignore it.  It’s probably the…  _ storm _ , as the skeletons had called it.  It’s probably driving you mad.

Heheh.  You’re already mad.  You must just be tired.  Or confused.  Or both.

⬖⬖⬖

The movie ends with a jumpscare, and you recede even further into the little crevice you’ve created in the couch cushions.

The movie had been terrifying, honestly.  A scary, four-armed monster with glowing yellow eyes stalked the main character, who seemed to be another, similar looking four-armed monster.

In the end, the scary monster tortured and killed the main character, before moving on to his next victim.

It had been… graphic, to say the least.

At every murder or jumpscare during the movie, you’d pushed yourself as far back into the couch as you could go, eventually creating a little you-sized hole.

Sans had fallen asleep somewhere in the middle of the movie, and Papyrus had taken it upon himself to make sure you didn’t run away by sitting closer to you and keeping a firm hand on your shoulder.

With the movie over, Papyrus grabs your handcuff, which is still around your right wrist and attaches you to a bar in the railing at the side of the stairs.  

It’s dark outside now.  Papyrus switches off the TV as Sans begins to stir.

The skeleton brothers advance to the stairs, turning the lights on the first floor off.

You shift nervously.  They can’t really be leaving you alone, can they?  On the first floor?  With no lights on?

_ After a horror movie _ ?

You see a small grin on Sans’ face as he reaches the second floor behind his brother.

Oh.

That bastard.

“W-wait,” you call.  The skeletons turn to you.  “You’re not leaving me alone down here, are you?  In the dark?”  

Papyrus’ eyes light up as his face twists up into a sadistic smile.  “Why wouldn’t we, human?”  He retreats to his room, leaving a grinning Sans with you.

He looks down at you from the landing, then turns to his bedroom door with a, “G’night, sweetheart,” and a flick of a switch.

You’re plunged into darkness.

…

Oh god.  Your heart is racing.  You press yourself against the railing, trying not to whimper as you frantically try to make out something,  _ anything _ in the pitch black.  Papyrus locked the front door, right?  No mysterious four-armed murderers who have glowing yellow eyes that can see in the dark are currently out to get you, right?

_ Thump. _

You bite your hand in an attempt to muffle your terrified scream.  Oh, god, no.  Something just went  _ thump _ near you, and you are not liking any of this.  You rock back and forth slowly, trying not to cry as something shuffles immediately to your right.

Then you go shock-still as something grazes your cheek.  A skeletal hand cups your cheek, tracing a bony finger down your jawline before coming to a stop at your chin.  The skeletal fingers gently turn your head to one side, then you feel the push of teeth against your cheek.

The hand and teeth recede as you sit still in shock.

“Heh.  You’re a pretty easy scare, you know that?” says a deep, male voice affectionately.

Then the skeleton who kissed you is gone.  You reach up to touch your cheek, previous fear of the dark gone.

Weird.

For a moment, you had almost felt… what’s the word for it?

_ Loved. _ What an odd feeling.

 

**Happy Valentine’s.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOA!  
> Yep, pretty short.  
> I'm not really all that good at fluff or anything.  
> Well, I'm not altogether too good at writing anyway.  
> I'm getting there.  
> ANYWAYS,  
> Should I do more short bonuses like this?  
> Tell me!  
> I crave your comments.


	7. A Very Hot Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party continues on their way through the surface.  
> Frisk loses a little skin, the three amigos meet a dinosaur and a four armed monster with yellow glowing eyes that can see in the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HA!  
> I managed to finish this chapter! I'm totally starting to get ideas for this story- lots of 'em.  
> I missed you guys, so I thought I'd give you some plot in this chapter.  
> Okay, ENJOY!  
> And try not to get too mad at me if things get vague.  
> I'm the master of vagueness.
> 
> Also, tumblr:  
> https://reversfellau.tumblr.com/

Papyrus stands in the doorway of Undyne’s house.  A sort of tension fills the air as the two make eye contact.  Sans is practically snarling, and MK is hopping from foot to foot almost anxiously.  Seeing how ugly things could get between the two friends, you leap between the group of three and the fish with anger issues.

You tell Papyrus that it’s okay, you’re having tea, and would he like to join you?

He does not, in fact, want to join you.

“You’re having  _ tea _ !?”  He shrieks.  You shrug and tell the tall skeleton that it’s pretty good, for unsweetened tea.  It seems you have a bit of a sweet tooth.

Sans strolls into the kitchen and flops himself into an unused chair with all the casualty of someone who already lives in the fish shaped house.

MK is having a hard time of it, his eyes flicking around wildly as he tries to make sense of the whole situation.  It finally dawns on the child.

“ _ Yo _ , so like, you totally weren’t the Undyne we were chasing into Snowdin?” he asks timidly.

Undyne scoffs.  “Of course it wasn’t me! You would never have to chase me- I don’t run like a coward when my enemies face me.”  

MK’s eyes widen in wonder, and it seems like any of his previous reservations about the giant fish have evaporated as he hops over to fawn all over her.

Sans sidles over next to you as Papyrus paces in front of Undyne’s door.

“Heh, knew I shoulda went with you.  Could tell there was something  _ fishy _ going on.”

A chorus of groans rises in the room.  You groan too, if only to hide your small smile.

“Could you not make puns?   _ Undyne  _ over here,” you say.

Sans blinks.  Papyrus scowls.  Undyne chokes.

Sans guffaws loudly as Undyne stands up, grabs you and Sans by the collars, and drags you out of her house.

“THAT’S IT! NO MAKING PUNS INVOLVING MY NAME! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE BEFORE I KILL YOU ALL!”

All of you get the boot.  You stand up, but Sans is still rolling on the ground.  Papyrus merely growls and picks you up, tossing you over his shoulder as you object.  For some reason, he feels the need to explain why he picked you up.

“The last time I let you wander off, you nearly got yourself killed.  It would be hardly profitable if you were to wind up dead.”

“Aw, Paps, love you too,”  you say affectionately.  Papyrus stops as Sans’ laughter abruptly halts.  MK looks confused.

Papyrus shrieks and holds you in the air in front of him, almost as if he can’t bear to have you near him.

“I am the  _ Great Papyrus! _  Not a stupid monster with a- a  _ nickname _ some human gave him!”  He looks angry, but somewhere deep within his soul you can tell a tiny bit of him is pleased at the idea of the name.  

Actually, now that you look, you can  _ see _ his SOUL.  You suppose it’s always been there, waiting for you to see it.  You respond the the skeleton currently holding you.  You tell Papyrus that nicknames are like codenames.  So cool.

Papyrus finally sighs and acquiesces to the nickname.

⬖⬖⬖

The sun is below the horizon when you leave Waterfall, the path to the faintly glowing Hotland looking ominous.  The skelebros look upon it with a little apprehension.

MK had decided to stay with Undyne a little ways back, promising to find the three of you again, when you leave Hotland behind.

Apparently, Hotland isn’t the most popular place to want to go to.

⬖⬖⬖

The air grows way more heated as your party of three makes it’s slow way down the bath to the enormous volcano.  

When you ran from Undyne, you’d been so focused on running, you hadn’t cared to take in any of the details around you.

Now, as you look, you’re astounded by the phenomenal view.

The soft blue glow of the moon meets with the hot, red glow of Hotland, making the night seem brighter than it is.  The path you walk on is lined by many flowers, all so colorful and sweetly scented you might just feel sick from them.  The gravel crunches soothingly underfoot as you, Sans, and Papyrus all walk down it silently, marveling at the beauty around you.

At one point, before it becomes too hot to be comfortable, your group stops to rest and take in the night air.  Feeling adventurous and brave, you reach for both of the skeletons’ hands to hold.

Your fingers find theirs.

But.

You instantly recoil when a sharp, hot feeling fills your hands.

The skeletons’ eyes snap to you when you hiss in pain.

Slowly, you look to your hands.

… 

_ Dear lord. _

Your skin has disappeared from your fingertips, leaving you with skeletal fingers, much like Sans or Papyrus.  Sans swallows upon seeing your hands.

“You’re lookin’ pretty  _ boned _ there, sweetheart.  Somethin’ on your mind?  Or, er,  _ hand? _ ”

You shoot a perplexed look at Sans, then glance back down at your hands.

Could it be…?

No.  You can’t be losing your skin just from touching the skeletons.  You remember… something that happened a long while ago now.  That had been skeleton to human skin then, you recall, blushing.

And yet, your cheek is perfectly intact, as you reach up to brush it.

You notice a warm gaze on your face, but when you glance at the skeletons, neither are looking at your head.

You glance down at your hand again, flexing your fingers and dismissing the feeling of being watched.  Everything seems… intact.  Even your sense of touch, you notice, as you drift your altered fingers over the textured ground.  Yep, you can feel every blade of grass.

You look closer at where the bones meet skin.  It’s almost like… your skin just fades into the bones, not ending abruptly, not melting into bone, just a smooth transition from skin to bone.  

Neither Sans or Papyrus can seem to tear their eyes away from the anomaly, and only slightly register when you stand up.

You tell them that if you keep a move on, you’ll get to where you need to go faster.  Papyrus looks like he wants to object, to worry about your hand, but Sans jumps in.

“Heh, alright sweetheart.  We’ll get going.  Staying in motion is pretty  _ handy _ , if I do say so myself- OW!”  Sans complains when Papyrus smacks his head for making a pun.

“There will be none of your repulsive humor, Sans.  The human is obviously going through great pain.”  You start to object, but Papyrus cuts you off.  “So much pain, in fact, that I think it would be better if I carried it.”  Suddenly, you’re swept off your feet and into Papyrus’ arms as he picks you up as if you weighed no more than a pound of flowers.

Yes, flowers.

⬖⬖⬖

The sun just begins to rise when you reach the red world of Hotland.  You’d fallen asleep while Papyrus carried you, your head lolling against his armored chest as you slept, but you’re wide awake now, glancing around warily.  Papyrus stops next to the large billboard you’d seen the day before.

“Okay, I don’t think the human is in pain anymore,” he announces as he drops you on the ground with a large thump as you land.

You grunt, dusting off red bits of ground as you stand up.  Glancing around, you take in your surroundings.

Before you lie the path that you know leads to the sentry station and metal bridge.  Looming in the distance is a large volcano, rivulets of lava that never seem to harden running down its blackened sides.  The sky is tainted red, probably by the scarlet particles of dust that float lazily through it.  The ground is hard and cracked, devoid of moisture.  Your sweat evaporates the moment it beads on your skin.  To your left and right, the dark red ground continues on, occasionally broken by a stalagmite jutting up from the ground.  The occasional geyser erupts with scalding air.

Sans and Papyrus have already advanced down the path, leaving you to catch up to them. You hop to your feet and hurry to avoid being left behind.

***Left behind…**

A voice, small and frail, comes from behind you.  You pause, looking behind you.  That voice… it reminds you of something…

You catch a glimpse of a white colored monster wearing green before you realize there’s no one behind you at all.  The heat’s already getting to you, you decide, as you turn to catch up with the skeletons once more.

…

_ A voice wavers as it repeats the mantra, the words bouncing uselessly in the hot air. _

_ *Left behind… _

_ *They all left me behind… _

_ *They all forgot… _

… 

⬖⬖⬖

The large vat of lava is directly ahead, but Sans practically leaps in excitement when he sees the sentry station.  When your party draws close enough, he strolls behind it, reaching under the counter to grab something.  He straightens, and you see it’s a bottle of mustard.  Papyrus groans in displeasure upon seeing the condiment.

“SANS!  I thought I told you not to drink that anymore!”  He shrieks at his brother, looking indignant.  Sans shrugs, then grins as he pulls the bottle to his teeth and squeezes some of the liquid into his mouth.  You shudder.  Having no memory of your previous life, you have a pretty sure feeling that you never had a particular love for mustard… 

Wait a minute.

As Sans lifts the bottle to his mouth to chug another mouthful of mustard, you watch his neck.  No mustard rushes down where his throat should be.  

You edge closer to Sans, standing almost immediately in front of him.  He looks suddenly nervous at your closeness.

“What?  You want some mustard?”  he asks.  You shake your head and point at his neck.

“Where does the food go?” you ask.  Sans blinks, then laughs so hard he has to lean against the sentry station.  You ask him what’s wrong.

“Nothing, nothing,”  his reply comes.  “I- I just never really thought about it.  Sure, all the  _ other _ monsters have throats, but I never really checked to see where my food goes.”

You lift an eyebrow, not really understanding how that can be very funny, but seize your chance when Sans takes another quick swig of mustard.  You reach your hand into where his neck would be, and get the funniest feeling as something warm passes through your fingers-

Suddenly, you’re pinned to the ground, with Sans over you, his left eye blazing a brilliant red.

“Tryin’ to kill me, huh?  Thought you could make me choke?  Well here’s a funny thing,  _ human _ .  S k e l e t o n s  d o n ‘ t   n e e d  t o  b r e a t h e .”  His voice gets dangerously low and deep, so quiet you can feel the rumble of it vibrate in your chest.  His features are somehow… sharper.  His teeth, which are always sharp, and quite frankly, intimidating, are even scarier now, as he bares them at you in an animalistic way.

***Whew, that’s hot.**

You’re absolutely frozen with fear.  Too many things are going on for your weak human brain to handle.  You look up at Sans, snarling down at you as the mysterious voice in the back of your head crows at how hot that apparently is.  You shake on the ground, but you know you have to find your voice before he gets  _ too _ angry.

“It’s obvious.  The human was trying to figure out where your food goes, dumbass.”  An annoyingly nasal voice comes to your rescue.  Sans growls-

***** **_Hot-_ **

-and turns on the monster who just called him a dumbass.  Without his form to keep you pinned to the ground, you can see the monster who saved you from Sans’ wrath.

A tall monster hulks over you, leaning on the sentry station.  He looks like a slightly overweight...anteater? His black vest is just short enough on his torso that it looks purposeful.  His dark red french art hat sits atop a jelled mop of black hair.  Small, beady eyes peer out at you from his face with a sort of malevolence that makes you promise to yourself never to catch yourself alone with him.  For now, however, you’re just happy he intervened. 

“ _ So _ sorry for interrupting, but I think you’re a bit of a bone-headed skeleton,” he drawls almost gleefully.  Sans’ eyes flick between you and the newcomer, before he lets out a grunt and lets the monster speak.

“That little human over there was idiotic enough to shove its hand into your neck, but you’re stupid enough to think it was trying to kill you.  Isn’t that right, dearie?”  He looks at you with an almost sadistic look, but you give a frightened nod.

“I-I wasn’t… wasn’t t-trying to hurt a-anybody…” you stammer quietly.  The monster’s eyes absolutely light up when he hears this.  He strides right past Sans and a shocked Papyrus before crouching in front of you and grabbing your shoulders roughly.

“The human talks!  I wonder, can it scream too?”  He looks absolutely terrifying now, standing in front of you with that grin on his face.  He seems to almost say something else before-

“E N O U G H.”  A gloved hand sends the monster flying back as another hand pulls you against a figure.  Papyrus towers over you in a protective sort of way, glaring over your head at the monster.  “Leave us  _ now _ , Not Sorry, before I Mettaton that his crew is consorting with Hotland creatures, and ultimately, Alphys.”  The creature looks stricken.  Papyrus keeps his hand held out, and you feel the telltale crackle that clued you in on magic being formed.

Before you can blink an eye, the creature, whose name is apparently Not Sorry, shoots away from your group, disappearing down a path leading toward another lava vat.

Papyrus is still standing over you, though you couldn’t possible figure out why, until you look at Sans.

He’s still glowering at you, a red tint filling his left eye.  A snarl disforms his face as he glares at you-

_ You swear if that voice says the damn word- _

***Sexy~**

-but Papyrus holds up a hand.  “Snap out of it, you useless lump of bones.  That miserable creature was right.”  Ah, geez.  Papyrus is actually  _ defending _ you.  Sans’ eyes flich to Papyrus berfore he lets out a grunt and straightens out of his defensive stance.  

The three of you walk on in silence.

⬖⬖⬖

Sans had finally warmed back up to you, deciding a murderer wouldn’t repeatedly ask for forgiveness.  As you three had walked deeper into hotland, an itch started in your arm.  You want to look down, but you hate the sight of your skin fading into bones, so you just ignore the itch.

As you walk down the path, you finally see a building, its image warped and waving from the heat.  Sans grabs your arm as you draw closer and grow sure that the building is not a mirage.

“Be careful here,” he says.  “This is the royal scientist’s domain.  She’ll have probably heard that there’s a human by now, and she’d love to get her hands on you.”  You shiver at the thought of a mad scientist finding you.  This place doesn’t seem friendly.

⬖⬖⬖

The building seems dangerous as it looms ominously over you.  It’s white-washed walls gleam dangerously in the red light of Hotland.

The doors that seem to be the only other feature of the building save for the unending white walls are large.  They make you wonder what size monster has to enter through them.

It blocks the entire path, but there are stairs leading to an elevator.

Or, there’re supposed to be.

They’ve been completely demolished, crumbling away into the lava below.

“...Welp.  Let’s hope that Alphys is watching anime today, eh, sweetheart?”

Anime?  That sparks a…

_ What are you watching? _

_ What the hell are you doing, letting this trash brainwash you? _

_ You useless child! _

You wince.  Sans notices, but doesn’t say anything, just walks you to the front of the building.

As you get closer, you see blocky letters over the grey doors.

“LAB,” they say.

_ Frisk, go to the lab. _

_ We just need one more test. _

_ We promise. _

You walk in, only shivering slightly.

⬖⬖⬖

The lab is dark.  You hear Sans and Papyrus’ footsteps as you walk on what must be tiles.  To your left, you can see the outline of boxes.

You continue, and suddenly something shutters to life next to you.

It’s a large monitor, and on its screen is… you.  You move, and the camera follows you.  

Huh. Creepy.

You dismiss it- it’s a lab.  Of course they’ll be able to have eyes on you.

Sans keeps watching the monitor, a slight red glare in his eye, but when Papyrus hisses at him, he follows closely behind you.  

Walking close to the left wall, your hand brushes over various things, and you’re able to identify them by touch.

A bag of dog food, a dog bowl, a desk, a computer…

You have a feeling this isn’t the first time your vision has been reduced to nothing.

The lights suddenly come to life with a glare that makes you screw your eyes shut quickly. When you open them, you see a terrifying sight.

She’s huge, towering over you with a menacing smile.

Her scales are a sickly yellow that grow into spikes that run down her back, poking out of her long white lab coat.  Her sharp claws poke out of the hem of her coat, along with a tail that sways excitedly behind her.  Her grin is full of sharp snaggle-teeth that look a little… red.  She wears cloudy glasses with spirals drawn on shakily over each window with red permanent marker.

***The royal scientist; Alphys.  Be careful, she has…exotic tastes.**

You can’t figure out what this voice’s deal is.  One moment it’s saying incriminating things at you, then it’s crooning at Sans’…  _ cough _ … sexiness, then it’s describing monsters to you. What  _ is _ this voice?

***It’s me, your best friend.**

Can that even get any more vague?

Alphys grins at you as Sans bristles at her.  She looks slightly maniacal, something about her smile twisted into a hint of insanity.  Papyrus puts a protective arm around your shoulder as she speaks.

“A human decided to show up in my home?  How delicious~”

You get the feeling she isn’t joking.

Papyrus pulls you away from Alphys.  “There’s no need to talk, Alphys.  We’re just passing through,”  he says.  Alphys feigns disappointment.  

“Leaving?  So soon?  Why, it’s nearly night!  You guys should stay, then we can have a sleepover!”  She looks at you.  “We can watch animes together, then I can show you my favorite  _ toys _ !”  She seems so excited, but… you don’t care for the way she said  _ toys _ .  Neither does Sans.

“Look, we’re leaving-”  he begins, but he’s cut off by the wall exploding as a figure bursts through it, landing between you and the scientist.  

You gulp; it must be a bodyguard or something.  That is, you thought that until the smoke cleared.

Standing in front of you with their arms out protectively, a robotic monster glares down at Alphys.  He speaks.

“I can’t stand back and let you harm this  _ delightful _ human, Alphys,” he says evenly.

Sans tenses.  “ _ Mettaton, _ ” he hisses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hue hue hue...  
> A little hint to who our bold character is...  
> *snort*  
> Also, skelefingers!  
> Musecookie out.


	8. A Thank You To a World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...

Hey.  
I know this is not an actual chapter.  
For those who enjoyed this story, and were excited for the next chapter to arrive, I'm sorry for the disappointment.  
I just want to say Thank you.  
This was my first story- a kind of introduction to the world of writing. I had fun developing the characters, and I still am and do.  
This was basically a pretty trashy story at first, but people actually gave this story kudos and supporting comments.  
I've gone back and read the first few chapters, and honestly, I'm astounded that anyone could actually ever see anything good in that story.  
But, I've gotten better. And I will continue to grow as a writer, as I continue to write.  
This is not the end of the story.   
No, this is still the beginning.  
However, I might stop this story from being my main.  
To be honest, I have major writer's block thinking up ideas for this story- and I'm not happy about where it is right now.  
Instead, I will be starting other stories and one-shots, as well as continuing to write the conspiracy story, Existence, for the author MsMk.  
I will still add chapters to this story, but they will probably be much slower to update.  
So, I'm sorry for that.  
On the other hand, you'll probably see much more work from me in other stories- I was spending all my time coming up with ideas for this story.  
So...  
Thank you.  
For every view, every kudo, every bookmark.   
I appreciate the support for a story that had no real excitement to it.  
Remember, this is still the beginning of the story.  
It's just some stories have to take longer than others.


End file.
